T R I A N G L E L O V E
by Nekomiimii
Summary: Triangle Love: A romantic relationship involving three people. Miki and Kaito have known each other since childhood and have been inseparable. But then freshman year of high school comes bringing in a 3rd force... SF-A2 mikixKAITOxMiku Hatsune
1. Nostalgia

A/N:

Again, I'm posting up these random stories when I SHOULD be fnishing up OC, doing the requests 100 DWTVS, and starting back on JML...but then I started thinking after listening to one of Miki's songs (it shares the title of the story in case you're interested in listening to it) and the plot bunnies took over and multiplied...Unfortunately, it's still a bit serious and I'm waiting to see if I could one day actually use the personality that I view Miki to have... OTL Anyway, not as funny and light-hearted as HFTT, but I hope it's still not a bad read for all of you! ^^"

As a side note: I'm going on haitus. I don't know for how long, though, but I need to clear my thoughts and finish up a few things. I may just be gone for a month or so, but that doesn't mean I've given up on my projects. They'll just be uploaded later but I guess that'll create a huge wall of text once I'm back! I'm very sorry, it's not like I don't care or anything, it's just that I need to tend to a few things that are, unfortunately, time consuming...

Disclaimer: Really now? I could wish upon every single star in the sky and STILL never be able to own Vocaloid!

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><p>Fate affords some people only one opportunity to meet. For others it allows endless opportunities, so that their meeting appears to be more like the handiwork of Fate's fair-haired cousin, Serendipity.<p>

...or I could be spouting a whole bunch of bull crap.

Whatever the reason, any number of preconditions could happen, ultimitaley affecting who you meet or will meet in your lives. That being said, it makes me wonder every time I think of the people I know and at times I even start to think about people that I will know. It's a silly thought, I know, but knowing just that small piece of information gets me wondering about lifes inner-workings.

I guess one certain occasion does stand out even more and almost makes that statement have a ring of truth to it. Several years back, when I was only a four year old to be exact, my father was promoted from the company he worked in back in England. The problem (or at least it was to me) was that he had to make his family move. I would have been perfectly alright if it had meant that we could move to the next city or so were it not for the unpleasant demands.

On December second, just two days before my fifth birthday, my parents bought three plane tickets and we promptly left for Sapporo, Japan. I felt like the most miserable kid on Earth. Being so young at the time, I don't really remember why I made such huge a fit about it. There really weren't any kids around my age back in the small city of Purbeck so I really don't know why I complained. It could have been because of the familiarity, but I'll never know.

Once the plane had finally landed we looked for our bags, went through security, answered a few simple question (or at least my folks did), and then father hailed a taxi to take us to our new home. It's really nice, couldn't complain. It's two stories high and looks like one of those homes that only the wealthy can obtain. And the neighborhood itself screamed "Snobs". Along the way, I already saw girls sitting on these little chairs in their front yards with these large, floppy hats on their heads. With their dainty pinkies thrusted out, they looked like those aged socialites, but with blueberry pie stains adorning their fronts.

I remember sticking my nose up at them. There weren't many girls like that back home, so I automatically felt out of place. I was used to rolling around in the dirt, fighting, getting messy and tearing apart my nice clothing.

When I felt the gentle stop of the taxi, my mom unbuckled me from out of my seat and carried me out to the front door. Once my dad had opened it up the feel of the newness of the house, my apologies for not being able to explain myself in further detail, overpowered me by the emptyness that greeted us.

I was scared, plain and simple. I almost wanted to cry, I already missed my friends like Sonika, FL-chan, Matsudayppoiyo and Ren Ikune. I wanted to leave that pompous place and go back to my humble home and wake up in my small bed with the cherry-printed sheets.

My parents noticed how distressed I was and did their best to comfort me, saying things that I'm sure most children are told the same thing when they move. So I merely nodded and agreed like the good and coorporative little girl they wanted me to be at that moment.

My mother knelt down to my height and wordlessly extended her hand, silently asking my permission to let her hold mine. I hesitated a moment. I wonder why I did, she was just wanting to hold it, to give it a light squeeze of reassurance.

But she never got the chance to do so because at that very moment there was a series of sprightly knocks on the door. My father came out of the kitchen (or what was there to call it that) and opened the door. A deep, masculine voice reverberated through the whole house so it really didn't help ease my anxiety as my body went through its fight-or-flight mechanism. I took a ready stance and glared at the intruder until a jubilant laugh escaped my father's lips.

I was honestly surprised as I heard the two converse and saw my mother follow suit. I felt so confused and I was painfully aware that I really was going to have a difficult time. I was alone, after all, and I wanted to walk away from them and leave them be. As I turned around to leave, my father called for me. "Miki darling, come meet this young fellow!"

My day was just full of surprises because now they wanted to show me off. I sighed and rolled my eyes, a nasty disrespecting habit that I still have, but turned around with a wide grin on my face. If I had to fake it for a few moments, then so be it. The sooner the better Ren used to say.

I skipped my way over there and gave my parents the cutest smile I could muster. "Yes Father?" I said in the cutest fashion I could come up with, my accent wasn't that noticable, but the couple in front of me were in awe at me.

It made me feel a bit uncomfortable, but the man smiled and patted my head. "Kiyoteru! You never told us you had a pretty little girl!"

I felt my face grow a bit warm from the compliment and I wanted nothing more than to stare down at my feet. But my parents would scold me later for being so rude so I kept my stare at eye-level as the woman started to tug at something that was clinging onto her skirt. Or someone, more correctly.

"Kaito, dear, come meet and say hi to the little lady."

After successfully prying his fingers from her, a small boy with neatly combed blue hair (blue?) shyly peeked from behind her leg. She gently pushed him in front of her and I could see that he was wearing pressed khaki's and a white collared shirt with a small design of a boat on his left breast pocket.

Never before had I wanted to gag so badly than at that very moment. _He looks so fake!_ I angrily thought but I kept the smile on my face while he avoided my gaze and looked down at his shuffling feet.

I wanted to tackle him and force his face to look at me, if I had done that to him, I would have never heard the end of that lecture. Instead of submitting to my initial animal-like impulses, I just stood there like a mindless idiot, listening to his parents coax him to speak to me.

After I felt the last strain of patience leave my body, I turned to my parents and looked up at them. "Can I go now?" I didn't care if I sounded rude, he obviously didn't want to talk to me and I didn't want to waste another minute of my life waiting for a spoiled boy to do so.

I didn't wait for them to answer as I turned to leave and felt a light tug on my shoulder. "W-wait!"

Remember when I said that my day was filled with surprises? Wonders never cease... The boy actually had his hand on my shoulder now and he looked at me with pleading eyes, wanting me to actually stay. I looked up at his parents and at my own and noticed the large smiles on their faces. I looked back at him and saw that his cheeks were lightly brushed with pink.

"M-my name is Kaito Sh-shion. N-nice to m-meet you M-Miki..."

As much as I didn't like the nervous stutter in his voice, I sighed and forced another smile. "Nice to meet you, too, Kaito. Wanna be friends?" _I'd rather eat a fork! Please say no, I only said it 'cuz Mother and Father wanted me too. I just know it._

He was obviously taken back that the new girl had asked him to be friends. I was so sure he'd say no since most of the guys back at my old hometown had to have the respect beaten into them. Literally. But then again, Kaito never really was like the other guys. "O-okay!"

I wanted to smack my head onto the wall, I wanted to scream at him, tell him that wasn't the way things were done. Boys don't just say "Okay" to being friends with girls that easily! They have to earn it to be my friend!

Even though I wanted to say that, even though I wanted to do all that just to hurt him, I couldn't bring myself to do it. He had this... ecstatic look on his face as he reached and took my hand. "I have a treehouse at my house, wanna play with me?"

For the first time since coming there, believing that my parents condemmed me to an endless hell of this sort to drag me into a place of snobs and fakers, I smiled. And it wasn't sarcastic, spiteful, nothing like that. It was genuine.

I tightened my hold around his hand and allowed him to pull me over to his place, just five blocks down the street. Before we were completely gone, I turned back around to see my parents and his. They had those knowing smiles on their faces again as they waved good bye.

xXx

That was almost eleven years ago.

Four years later, I made his parents hate me. It was by accident, honestly it was. We were at the treehouse he took me to the first time we met. I was climbing up to the highest branches while he was still at the base of the tree, worried to death about me.

"M-Miki! Get down from there, you can fall and hurt yourself!"

I looked down and saw the concern that was obviously etched onto his face. Still, I didn't listen.

"Don't be such a 'fraidy-cat Kai-Kai! It's not hard or scary!" I said in a teasing tone and stuck my tongue out at him. He knew me well enough to know that I normally did things my way, regardless what people said to try and dismay me.

He pouted and placed a hand on the tree trunk. "I-I'll go up there and bring you down if I have to!" he tried to say in a threatening tone that only made me laugh at him.

"You and I both know you won't, you're scared of heights!" I shot back and watched in satisfaction at the crestfallen look. He and I know everything about each other. Well, actually I know everything about him and he knows the general basic information about me.

Still, it was enough about me for him to know and to my surprise, he was actually climbing up. He slipped a few times but he managed to grab onto the branches and pull himself back up.

Now I knew he meant it when he said he'd come up and get me. But being the brat that I was (am) I kept going farther and farther away from him. I already knew he wasn't the best climber in the neighborhood so I saw him struggle each time he reached for a new branch, his whole body quaking in fear and his eyes would sometimes meet mine, begging me to stop and wait for him.

How cruel nine year olds can be...

I kept going, one branch at a time. I even shook them violently just to hear him squeal in terror. I heard his folks talking from behind the door and stopped. I already gave them plenty of reasons believing that I'm a horrible influence on their son.

I back talk. I can be rude. I'm harsh. I'm pessimistic. My manners aren't what they should be.

But regardless of my flaws, Kaito stood by me like white on rice. In return, I stood up for him on many occasions. Like when that bastard Dell started pushing him around at the playground because he was on "his" swings and that he wasn't allowed on there. The day Kaito thought Dell wouldn't be there, he got on the swing set and started doing what he liked most on the playground. Until he heard that venom-laced voice.

"Didn't I tell you that you're not allowed on _my_ property?"

Before Kaito could react, the jerk gave him a hard shove and sent him straight out of the seat. Lucky for him I was there and had to catch him. I heard a tear and saw that the fall caused him to rip my dress that mother was very specific on not ruining. But seriously, when you're nine years and at a park with bullies, what's the least you can expect?

I shoved Kaito off of me and stood up to glare at the boy with the piercing red eyes. He scoffed when he noticed that I was actually challenging him. "Wow, you've got your girlfriend to stand up for you? Wuss!" he laughed out loud as a he was soon followed by his posse of jackasses.

It didn't bother me one bit that he called me that and I stood my ground. Who cares that it was four against one? I could take 'em!

I felt a light tug on the hem of my dress and saw Kaito looking at me with tear laden eyes. "L-let's just go, we can go play at-"

"No way! That jerk can't get away with this!" I declared and marched forward. Kaito looked back at me in horror as my small frame was easily swallowed up by the group of boys. Besides Dell, his group had Mikuo Hatsune, Ron Keine, and Nero Akita all ganging up on me. To make matters even less in my favor, they're all two years older than me.

I should have screamed, run away, or called for help when Dell grabbed my hair and threw me on the ground. Well, Kaito had that covered except for the last two. As Dell got ready to kick me, I screamed bloody murder that startled them all and watched in astonishment as I tackled the white haired boy.

He must have been too shocked to do anything as a flurry of fists made contact with his face. It wasn't until the other guys pulled me off of him did I finally stop beating his face in. The others were too scared and cried out, "Crazy witch!" and ran off with a Dell.

I was still satisfied though, I gave him a busted lip and a bloody nose. Win for me and for Kaito. But life's a bitch and it wouldn't let me celebrate my victory for long as I heard both of our mothers scream.

My mother picked me up and scolded me for ruining such a fine dress and saw the bruise on my cheek. I think that Mikuo guy actually laid a hit on me when Dell threw me down...

Then Kaito's mom noticed that he got his clothes dirty too and glared at me. Of course she'd think I did something to him...

...I digress, I just told you an anecdote about myself and him, I'm sorry for getting side-tracked. Let's see... where were we?

...Oh yes, I was telling you about that time I made his parents truly hate me. It was after I heard his parents talking, right? Well, after I stopped shaking the tree, I scrambled on higher and higher still until I reached the roof of our treehouse.

"You can't catch me, nyah nyah~!" I taunted. He glared at me and started to climb faster and faster to try and reach me. The guy actually managed to get a hold of my shoe before I realized it and I moved my foot away from him.

That was my mistake. He slipped and fell forward. I tried to catch him, I really did. I got up as soon as I could and tried to grab onto a chunk of his shirt, but I missed.

He hit the ground and I heard a sickening snap. I quickly climbed down and plopped down next to him. He was gasping, trying his best to hold in his sob and I noticed that his arm wasn't in a natural position.

A stream of curses assaulted my ears as I saw his parents run towards us and saw their fallen son. His father gingerly picked up his son and brought him inside. It was just me and his mother. She glared at me, no, it seemed so far beyond that.

A look of utter disgust and disdain. Far different from the look of adoration she gave me when we first met all those years ago. I was the first to speak. "Shion-sama, let me explai-"

I never got to finish what I was going to say because she silenced me with a hard slap that made my ears ring. I fell to the ground with a loud thud and looked up at her in shock. I never thought she'd do that to me...

"Y-you! You horrid little **_beast_**!" she screeched. "You stay far away from my son, never go near him ever again! Do I make myself clear?"

I dumbly nodded and scrambled up to my feet and ran, ran as fast as I could to get to my house. The second I got home and opened the door, I collapsed onto the floor in a crumpled heap.

My mom heard the door opened and was about to greet me with her usual cheerful grin until she saw my slumped form. I heard the rapid clicking of her heels as she bent down next to me. "Honey! Are you alright, what happened?" she asked, her rose-colored hair brushing against my face.

She gapsed as she pulled a napkin out from the front of her apron and began to wipe my face. Was she mad that I was covered in dirt and in sweat? I didn't think that for long when I saw that it was stained red. She slapped me hard enough to make me bleed?

I got up and pushed my mother's hand away from me. "I fell and hit my face when Kaito and I were in the treehouse." I said, lying to my mother in a smooth voice. It wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

My mother visably relaxed after that. "Oh okay. But please be careful whenever you play with him, you're always so hard on him-"

"I don't like Kaito anymore. He's no fun, I don't ever want to see him again!" I yelled abruptly and ran up to my room without letting my mother have another say in the matter.

Once the lock was secured in place, I slumped back down to the floor and finally let myself cry for the first time since I left England.

So then, like I had stated earlier, fate affords some people only one opportunity to meet. For others it allows endless opportunities, so that their meeting appears to be more like the handiwork of Fate's fair-haired cousin, Serendipity.

Whatever the reason, any number of preconditions could happen, ultimitaley affecting who you meet or will meet in your lives. And there will be one other person in my life out there who will affect it in a life-changing and startling sort of way.

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><p>AN:

I had this already saved from my computer and just had to pull it up, it's actually been stored away since the first week of June! XD I'm so slow at updating, I just started to seriously work on it, but I wonder how far I'll get with this one...anyway, review if you want to and constructive criticsm is a must for me!


	2. Beauty and the Beast

A/N:

Shhhh! Don't let anybody know that I used up my three hour break in college for this! *shifts eyes side to side to make sure the professors don't see her*

Okay, coast is clear, I hope chapter one wasn't confusing, I forgot to mention in my last note that this will be in Miki's point of view and that I'm trying to replicate what someone would say and/or do in their heads when they're thinking and she's basically talking to you, the reader, about her life. She'll skip around a few times and she'll be sort of random and a bit ditzy at times, but again, trying to make it seem like she's actually talking to you but feels a bit uneasy doing so at the same time. I realized that it doesn't really look like it in the last chapter so I'll fix that up.

*sigh* Word of advice: don't just pull up a document that only had one sentence saved in it since the first week of June and then try to magically finish it up in two hours! XD OTL

Later on I'll swap from her POV to Kaito's since you all might be interested how he saw things but then I'll leave it a general POV towards the last two-three chapters, I estimate.

Oh, and Miki... I sort of based her personality on me... I have good long-term memory and I can vividly describe to you events in my life since the age of three (which is common because that's after infantile amnesia so it's possible to have memories up to that point except it's rare before the age of three) and I had the idea that maybe I can allow Miki to have that. And I was a total brat, what Miki did to Kaito... happened to a friend of mine... at a park instead of a tree house... Psh, it's Miki's turn to talk to you now, bye bye! XD

I hope that this won't be THAT confusing, it's just some new style that I wanted to try out on you all and I thank you for bearing with me and going along with me for the ride.

~Mipiko

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><p>Kaito's a rebel at heart, I think.<p>

Almost a year after his parents forbade me from ever seeing him again, at eight twenty-seven p.m., he was knocking on my window.

I remember feeling surprised when I saw that goofy grin and one of his legs swung over the balcony, keeping a steady grip on it with one hand while using the other to wave at me.

You'd wish I could tell you what others things came to mind at that moment, but I won't say... Oh come on, do you really think I'll spill everything to you? ... I won't take it back, I really won't, I don't care if you're interested I won't- I'm getting off topic here!

Okay then... what was I talking about?

...Oh yeah! Okay, okay, yeah so when I saw his face I immediatley jumped out of my bed and rushed over to push aside the double doors. He didn't automatically come in. He swung his other leg and sort of sat on the balcony looking back at me and replaced his happy grin with a meloncholic look.

"...why didn't you come back to visit?"

I looked down at my feet. I was sure that his mom would tell him what she did, the part of her telling me that I can't see him again, not the slapping part.

"Miki? Did I do something wro-"

"I didn't come back because I thought you'd be mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Because I broke your arm, stupid."

"But it's better! You didn't have to ignore me at school you know, it's oka-"

"No it isn't!" I yelled. I startled him and he nearly fell back, but this time I ran up ahead and grabbed the front of his t-shirt and pulled him next to me.

I never felt more afraid in my life. I almost hurt him again for being stupid... My knuckles even turned white because I was holding onto him so tightly, I didn't want to let him go, not ever.

He placed his small hands over mine. "Miki, I'm okay, see? You don't have to keep holding on-"

"Come inside, it's cold. You really are stupid, walking all that way just to get to my house in the middle of October without a sweater... And in shorts and sandals! Are you trying to catch your death of cold?" The whole time I was scolding him, he just smiled that same goofy smile that he reserved just for me.

It's weird, really. Being ten, we both didn't really understand the consequences of him being in my room. His parents didn't come to mind, but if they had at that moment, I would of forced him to climb down that english vine that he had used to climb up here (he's actually quite good at sports) and sent him home.

But... I guess I really did miss him more than what I lead on as I dragged him by the front of his shirt to the middle of my room before finally letting go. I crossed my arms and impatiently tapped my foot.

He just gave me a dumb look.

"What? What are you-"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me why you ran away from home, which it's past your bed time Kai-Kai, and for you to tell me why you're standing in my room."

"Well... I wanted to see you, that's how I got here because mom thinks I'm asleep, and you dragged me here; that's how I got here."

He giggled and poked my cheek, I'm pretty sure my mouth was open when he said all that because then I pushed him onto my beanbag chair that was in the shape of a cherry ice cream cone.

"Stupid!" I hissed. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What if some creepy hobo saw you and thought that maybe if he kidnapped you, he could make a lot of moola since this is a rich neighborhood!"

He looked pensive for a moment and shrugged. "But there's camera's at every lamp post, I'm sure they'd catch him-"

"Not the point! That is not the point! My gosh, you're actually really troublesome. Does your parents know this secret side to you?"

He covered his mouth with his hand to keep from laughing out loud. "Nope!" he said with a cheery smile.

I sighed and slumped onto the floor and glared at him. He tilted his head in confusion and brought his knees up to his chin. "Wh-what? You didn't miss me?"

For the first time that night, he acted like the Kaito I knew and I seriously took in what he said into consideration. Again, I sighed and walked up to the bean bag and sat down next to him.

"Of course I missed you... you're my best friend, aren't you?"

He pulled his face out of his knees and nodded. "Yeah, and you're still mine, too, right?"

I smiled and stuck out my pinky like those girls all that years ago. "Mhm, always and forever?"

With a smile, he tightly wrapped his pinky around mine, "Always and forever."

xXx

He snuck out of his home almost every night to meet me in my room for about a year before he was finally caught by his twin brother, Akaito.

Wait? Didn't I mention he had a twin last time I saw you? I didn't? Oh... Well, he's actually got a LOT of siblings. And honestly... I don't feel like naming them all, except the ones you mainly would need to know would be Taito, Zeito, Nigaito, and Kaiko. Kaiko is his only sister but she's the youngest of the bunch. Like... She's ten right now.

Anyway, back to Akaito and Kaito. Oh, and Akaito looks a lot like Kaito except he's got red hair and eyes, like, even redder than mine. Crimson red compared to cherry red...

Oh! You wanna know what happened next? Don't let me keep you waiting then!

...Sarcasm is a foreign language to you, isn't it? Huh? You knew that I was? ...F-forget it, I'll carry on...

Well, before that happened, Kaito and I would sneak downstairs and get some ice cream from my freezer and some cherries to snack up in my room. We'd talk about all the other new people we had met in school during the time we stopped talking to each other. I actually became pretty close friends with Dell and his group, apparently I got the respect I deserved by beating it into him. Ha~

Off topic, I digress, et cetera et cetera. Kaito became friends with these two new guys that I had seen before. A kid with blonde hair that kept his hair up in a tiny ponytail named Len and a guy with long lavender hair that also had to keep his hair up named Gakupo.

He wasn't surprised that I became friends with them, he sort of new it all along that I would.

"What makes you say that?" I asked, my hand hovering over the bowl of cherries.

"Because a lot of people kind of like you in the end, I guess. I think even Mikuo has a crush on you."

"Ewww! Thats gross!" I wrinkled up my nose and shuddered. There was no way Mikuo would've liked me, it just didn't seem possible! He hates my guts! ... Or at least _hated_ them...

He shrugged and spooned in another spoonful of cookies and cream into his mouth. "Well, just saying 'cause it looks like he does."

I shook my head and spat out the pit in my hand. "Naw, Mikuo's just a jerk and a boy."

"But I'm a boy, too."

"Yeah, but you're different from them."

"How?"

" 'Cause you're not a jerk and you don't do stupid stuff all the time."

" ...does climbing up the vine to get here count-"

"You don't do stupid stuff all the time." I said with finality and he accepted that with another shrug and a small nod.

We both continued to eat in silence until he shuddered. "I'm cold..."

"I'm sure that had to happened considering that you nearly finished up a gallon of ice cream by yourself. We can use my blanket to get warm, remember?" I offered and pulled it off of my bed.

He straightend up and moved the food out of the way and stretched out the beanbag. " 'Kay, it's ready. But just for a little while, I gotta get home before mom finds out I snuck out again."

"Psh, don't worry that pretty little blue head of yours, I'll kick you out the window before that happens."

"...you don't really mean that, do you?"

"Maybe."

He sort of slumped down in his seat and pulled the blanket over his nose and mumbled, " I-I know you're lying.."

I giggled and skooted in beside him and tucked him in. "Kai-Kai knows me very well."

That calmed him down a bit as he snuggled into the sheets and closed his eyes. It didn't take me long either to follow.

xXx

"**Oh my gosh**! **Oh my gosh**! Wake up Miki, Miki wake up!"

I groaned and sleepily looked up at the panicking bluenette right next to me. "What is it Kai-"

"We over slept! Oh my gosh, it's already-," he paused to check my digital alarm clock, "-six seventeen! My mom is gonna come in my room in three minutes to wake me up!"

"Kai-"

"If she sees that I'm not there, she'll see the homemade rope I made with my duvet and-"

"Kaito-"

"-she'll freak out, call the cops, have the whole neighborhood on watch-"

"Hey stupid-"

"-and then everyone is gonna flip out all because you didn't wake-"

_"IT'S SATURDAY!"_

He stopped pacing around in my room and stared at me, he cheeks slowly turning red. "O-oh... I-I knew th-that..."

I rolled my eyes. "Sure you did, that's the reason why you were just picturing the worst case sceniarios to wake yourself up. Perfectly Kaito-esque of you."

He blushed even more and turned his face away.

His mom always let hims sleep late until ten on the weekends. I would know, I did actually get to sleep over with him at his place a couple of times. That's how I got to know his family. Akaito likes me, he thinks it's pretty cool that I like things most boys do instead of all the girly stuff that he thought I was into. Except for pink 'cause I wear it sometimes and he wouldn't dare make fun of my mother's hair color.

I pulled the blanket off of me and straightened up my wrinkled tank top and slipped on my flip-flops. Kaito started looking for his shoes and slipped them on before looking back at me.

"I'm going home now, before mom finds out..."

"Okay. Get there safetly, promise Kai-Kai?"

He nodded and went to the same place he usually took to get here. Right when he swung his leg over, he looked back at me and called my name.

I was a little confused. Did he need my help? I wondered and walked out with him. When I was close enough to him I asked, "What is it-"

I stopped because I felt him pull me close and for a second or two, my brain finally registered that he was hugging me. Well, it was a one-armed kind of hug, but regardless of that. A hug is a hug.

He pulled away before I could and smiled. "I guess we kinda had a sleepover today, right?"

I blinked for a moment before frowning at him. "You're such a girl sometimes, Kai-Kai! ...but yeah, I guess it kinda was... even though you freaked out." I added with a smirk.

He laughed and climbed back down. Once his feet hit the ground, he gave me one last good bye wave and ran down the street, past the little hill that was near my room, out of my sight.

xXx

"Akaito caught me..."

"Did you make that much noise?"

"No! ...he walked in last night to check up on me and saw that my bed was empty...and that my duvet was hanging out my window..."

"My gosh! Don't you have a lock?"

"Mom hates it when I use locks!"

I groaned and placed my head on my desk at school. He was always getting caught, one way or another. Well, at least it took him almost a year...

"So what? Your mom knows that you come visit me at night?"

"Nooo... I had to promise Akaito something..."

I pulled my head off of my desk and gave him a questionable look. "Okay, this is Akaito we're talking about, right?"

He slowly nodded.

" ...what does he want you to do for him?" I sighed and propped my chin up with my hand.

" ...umm... p-promise you won't hate _m-me_?"

Very slowly, I raised my head up and rested my eyes onto his. "What...did you tell him?" I hissed.

He yelped and fidgeted with the hem of his shirt before looking up at me. "H-he um... he uh, um..."

"Kaito Shion, spit out your brother's condition right now!"

"_He said he wants to go out with you!"_

... Cue the little monkey on a unicycle with small cymbals riding in front of us while saying "Awkward~"

"No."

"B-but-"

"Never! I would never, ever, not in a million years-"

"But he'll tell mom!" he cried in exhasperation.

I stopped my childish tantrum and looked at him. I knew he had a valid point, but going out with Akaito? He had better be joking.

" ...F-fine...b-but tell him if he does any funny stuff, I'll, I'll uh... I'll rip his hair clean off his scalp and stuff it in his mouth for lunch."

Kaito shuddered. "Why do I always have the feeling you mean exactly what you say?"

"Because you know that I would."

He's such a good boy.

xXx

"...Tell me again why you lied to Kaito."

"Because he's a whiny baby who misses his 'girlfriend'~"

"For the last time, Akaito, I am NOT his girlfriend!"

"Psh, I wonder if you'll be thinking the same thing years from now..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing~"

"Then what's the point of me being here?"

"Remember when mom banned you from seeing Kaito?"

"Don't remind me..."

"She just said _Kaito_, right?"

"Get to the point already!"

"She never said you were banned from talking to _me_."

...Akaito can be a genius sometimes. Mark that as another event that happened in my life that changed it. I was "indirectly" given permission to speak and see Kaito through the use of his brother. It didn't take him long to figure out where his younger twin brother ran off to in his mid-night escapades.

So it was decided. I would be Akaito's "girlfriend" for a while as a way for me to see Kaito out of school hours without having his mom get onto me. Life couldn't get any better than that.

And it really couldn't once we hit the age of fifteen.

xXx

"BUT DUDE! She's here, at this school!"

"But why? Why the hell would she pick a crummy ass school like this when she has all of those preppy schools for those 'gifted' kids?"

"Dunno, something about wanting to be more like other 'normal' teens."

"Psh, you're anything but normal Mikuo, far from it..."

"Hey! That was uncalled for Ron!"

"Hey! Get your fat ass off of my desk Mikuo!"

It was Thurdsay, September fifteenth, fifteen minutes before first period. Dell, Mikuo, and Ron decided to pay me a visit before they ran off to their Junior classes. Mikuo made himself comfortable on my desk while I was patiently waiting for him to kindly get off.

"Don't make me repeat myself! Or are you as deaf as you are as stupid?"

He scowled at me. "I'll move my 'fat ass' whenever the hell I feel like it. I ain't moving just 'cause some stupid freshman-OW!"

Dell and Ron bursted out laughing when Mikuo found himself laying down, face first, into the ground.

"Thank you very much Kuo~!" I said in an innocent voice and slid into my seat. Just to add on to his humiliation, I took out a disenfectant wipe from my bag and wiped my desk clean.

He grumbled about something before he pushed himself up and glared at me before standing next to Dell. Dell popped his gum in his mouth and smirked at him. "You should've known better than to-"

"Shut up."

Mikuo directed his glare back at me and I gave him a sweet, innocent smile that made him lightly blush. Turns out Kaito was right after all. Figured it out myself when we started sixth grade and when Kuo was an eighth grader. You figure out a lot when you wipe chocolate pudding away from their face after they started food fights.

After Ron and Dell had their fill, Kaito rushed in with his hair sticking out and with his uniform out of place. "A-am I late?"

"Did the bell ring?"

"Did the-oh, no it didn't Miki."

"BaKaito."

"What?"

"Dude, she means you're not late."

"Oh."

Kaito still wasn't used to my "friends" ever since I got him to talk to them back in middle school. But you can't really blame the guy, at least Dell isn't as bad as he used to be. He just a loose tongue is all. He can use the f-word like a noun, verb, ajective- off topic again? I'm sorry...

The sight of Kaito's messy hair, uniform...just about everything about him really ticked me off and I got out of my seat. "Honestly, do I have to keep you inline all the time? Just look at you! You look like you went through a twister or something-"

"Akaito and I fought over the last piece of tamagoyaki."

"Was it salty?"

"Yes."

"No wonder."

I straightened out his hair by flattening it out, pulled the creases of his shirt out and rearranged his tie. I could hear Dell and Ron snickering at us, they always used to make these jokes that Kaito and I were some kind of married couple, even at a young age.

I just rolled my eyes at them, but Kaito was a bit more sensitive than me and would always try to fidget away from me and try to do it on his own. I guess he was too tired to do anything on that day because he let me clean him up without a complaint.

Once I was satisfied, I dusted my hands and slapped his back. "Miki Hiyama approved!"

He winced. "U-uh, th-thank you?"

Ron elbowed Mikuo. "Maybe you should come to school looking like that one day and have Miki's hands all over-"

"Sh-shut up!"

Kaito scowled at them. If there was one thing he didn't like about them, it was the way they sometimes used me in context. "Don't talk about her like she's some kind of-"

"Whatever, you're just saying that 'cause she gets to hang out with you all the time."

"Are you and Akaito still dating?"

I shrugged. We kind of dropped the facade all together, but we apparently hadn't made it "official" that we were through. "I guess so..."

"Awesome!"

The four of us turned around to face Mikuo. He turned even redder and looked away from us. "N-nevermind..."

Kaito and I rolled our eyes in unison, it's kind of scary how alike we can be when it came to stupid guys.

Before either one of us could comment, Dell looked at his cell phone and nudged Ron and Mikuo. "Time to go guys, or we'll end up like Kaito... Not that Mikuo would mind-"

"Can we _just_ go now?"

The two of us laughed as they walked out and went back to our seats. Kaito sat on my left and waited until the rest of the class filled up. I started thinking about the conversation the boys were having earlier before I shoved Mikuo off of my desk. Something about a girl and being gifted or something and decided to come here instead. I wonder who they were talking about?

"Hey Kaito?"

"Hm?"

"Know anything about a new transfer student?"

"No, why?"

"The guys were making a big deal of one coming over to the school, she's gotta be something to actually get their attention."

"Miki, they're guys talking about a girl, it can't be much. Besides, they talk about you."

"What was that?"

"I said they talk about minchis."

"What are those?"

"N-nothing."

Before I could get another word in edge-wise, Sensei walked through the open door and walked up to the board and faced the class. "Ohayou gozaimaisu."

After we bid her a good morning she looked back up at us with a smile. "We will be having a new transfer student grace our classroom."

I quickly sat up in my seat. It just has to be that new girl the guys were talking about!

"I would wish for you all to welcome with a warm welcome. Please welcome the prestigious Hatsune Miku!"

A scent of lavender and french vanilla wafted through the room as I looked up at towards the direction and saw a girl who looked a little taller than me, teal hair that was worn in pigtails, and had the most brilliant pair of cyan-colored eyes.

I had to admit it, but she really is pretty. It took me a second to realize that right there in the front of the room was the young teen pop idol from Crypton, Miku Hatsune.

With a honey-dipped smile, she greeted the class. "Hello and please take care of me, I look forward to meeting each and every one of you~!" she said in a smooth voice.

The whole class was in an uproar. Everyone ran up to her, asking to shake her hand, for an autograph. Heck, one guy was bold enough to ask if he could sniff her hair!

I clicked my tongue in disgust. More than likely she was here for some publicity. I shook my head. "Can you believe her Kaito? Demanding all that attention on her, she should at least try to-"

I stopped.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Kaito was still in his seat, sitting next to me, but the look on his face.

He was blushing.

He was blushing at the Hatsune girl.

And she could see that. The girl wasn't shy at all and waved at him with a coquettish smirk. I felt my throat tighten, my stomach roll up in tight knots, and I almost found it difficult to even breathe.

The girl pushed through the crowd and walked towards us. She made her way through the desks and plopped herself right in front of me, blocking my view of my best friend.

"Hello there, I don't think you've properly introduced yourself~?" she said with a coy smile.

I could easily imagine the flustered look on his face. "O-oh! U-um, I'm K-Kaito."

She giggled. "Well, nice to meet you K-Kaito!"

He let out a nervous laugh and I frowned. Just who the hell did she think she was to openingly embarrass my friend like that.

"Excuse me," I challenged.

She slowly turned that petite neck of hers and gave me a look of indifference. "What do you want?"

Oh, how I wished to punch that look off her face. "Don't treat my best friend like that, that was rude and-"

"It's okay, Miki! She was just asking for my name."

I looked back at him in shock. He was slightly frowing at me, making it seem like I was the bad guy.

Miku laughed and twirled back around, her handbag slapped me in the face. "My, my, K-Kaito, you have a very nosy friend~!"

There are certain events in life that can change you, and she was one certain person that I wished I could eliminate. Because from here on out, she made my life hell.

* * *

><p>AN:

Is this a lot better? Don't be afraid to say anything about the style, I'll make changes along the way (hopefully none that are too major) to suit your needs. For me, I do this for the reader and I'll do whatever I can to make your experiance a joyous one! *shot*

I need to calm down, oh and I'm thinking of posting up Chapter Four of my requests FanFic, it'll be about Rin and Luka and I hope it doesn't suck...

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope my haitus won't be long-lived or anything like that! XD

Oh and one more thing... I finished this up in almost _three_ hours! XD *headshot!*


	3. Snapped

A/N:

Chapter Three~!

Okay, I think I'm off haitus... Wow, shortest lived haitus I have ever done. I got to fix the stuff I needed to do and I actually do have some time to kill here in college before they really make us hit the books, so yeah.

I'm back~! XD *shot*

* * *

><p>I was so sure he'd get over her.<p>

I mean, she's a famous pop star, he shouldn't have a chance with her!

And yet... Y-Yeah, I'm okay... S-sorry... It's just sweat coming out of my eyes okay! What? Pfft, I am NOT in denial, I know I'm not, I'm still not! ... Do you wanna hear the rest of this or not? Good.

The first month she was there was unbearable. I swear, I'm pretty sure I was the only one who was unimpressed with her, she just seemed so...so, so, so...ARGH! I can't even think of the word! But I hate her.

I know that's a harsh thing to say, but when she pretty much treats you like shit, gets away with everything wrong she does and then wraps your best friend around a manicured fingernail, wouldn't you also think like that?

Anyways, everyday seemed to be like a struggle as I kept trying to get Kaito's attention. Feh, forget Mikuo and the others, they were completly enraptured by her. I couldn't do a thing. So much for crushing on me, but it didn't bother me. More like "Good riddance".

But...It unnerved me. It unnerved me to know that I was that easily replacable... I mean, I thought I was their friend s-so... when she came... when she c-came... she took everything.

It hurt.

It really, really hurt.

I felt like I was four again, she was the big move that made me lose my friends. I acutally found it really hard to make new ones. I felt like they'd always come back, that they'll realize just how superficial she really is and come back to me. They'd come back and tell me how sorry they were for doing that to me...

It was a friday afternoon, last class of the day when Miku made me her public enemy.

She and I both had English together and she was at the opposite side of the room. Kaito, Len, and Gakupo used to sit next to me but decided to move and sit around Miku and her new group of followers. I swear, I never felt more betrayed, more hurt...

Gah, whatever, it's all in the past. The only one who stayed was my cousin, Piko, who moved into town around the same time Miku came.

He rolled his eyes, he apparently shared the same disdain of the sight of Miku that I had. So he was comforting, for the most part.

"I still don't understand what her appeal is, she's just an overly-privileged teenage girl with an enormous ego that can't be contained."

I shrugged. "Don't ask me, we're the so-called 'Outcasts' for disliking her, remember?"

"I'd much rather commit social suicide than to ever side with her."

"Amen."

Normally, my cousin and I would almost never get along. He and I could fight even worse than cats and dogs, but if there was one thing we had in common, it was dissing on Miku.

If you're wondering why Piko hates her as much as I do, it's for one simple reason.

Miku called Piko "she".

That Diva could've sworn he was one by how effiminate his face looks and because of his voice. Piko accidently bumped into her and she bitched at him, practically _demanding_ that he apologize to her.

He was not happy, as I am sure you could all imagine. Piko has a pretty colorful vocabulary too, if prompted to show off his skills.

I love him to death sometimes.

Well, from there on out, Miku hated him too.

After sensei walked in, it took the class forever to shut up long enough to hear him speak. Once they all settled down, he looked at everyone with a forced grin and saw Miku at the corner of his eye.

"Hatsune-san, could you read this sentence aloud for me?" he asked and wrote out "The man surprised the dog."

Miku gave everyone her movie-star smile and nodded. "Of course~!" With a unnecessary flip of her hair, which barely brushed Len's face, seh stood up from her seat to recite the sentence.

Can you believe that she stumbled over the word "surprised"? Piko and I wanted to laugh (even though he's actually from Nurnberg, Germany) but of course we had to keep it inside.

Sensei gave her a tense smile, we all knew how badly Miku hates being wrong. So he tried to take it slow. "Er, Miku? You mispronounced 'surprised'."

She gave him a quizzical look. "No I didn't, I said it the way it's suppose to be said."

"No you didn't," I shot at her, "it's not pronounced as 'suhpleesed'. You pronounce it as 'sur-prized'." My accent showed through and I noticed that the whole class went dead silent. You could even hear a pin drop.

I looked over at Piko and he had on this proud smirk on his face whereas the rest of the class were in awe.

I, Miki Hiyama, had openly mocked the Crypton Diva Miku Hatsune.

Best moment of my life.

Too bad what I did is considered as social suicide, but eh. I'd kill myself a million times over if it meant that I could feel that same rush of excitement and satisfaction just to see that dumb-struck look on her face that she had again. That was awesome.

She gave me a tense smile, I swear her lips where twitching, and in the sweetest voice she could manage to say, "Oh. Well, y-you are right, aren't you? Being from England really did have it's advantages, _didn't it_?" She said the last bit through her clenched, pearly white teeth.

I raised my brows and shrugged. "I guess you could say that, but I only lived there for less than five years of my life and currently you see me in Japan. My parents don't even speak it anymore, I guess I just have good retention is all."

Something snapped. Something snapped within that pretty little teal head of hers as she looked at me with malicious eyes, her hands were trembling. No doubt she wanted to rip my throat out at that moment.

Nobody moved, I'm pretty sure nobody breathed. I could be over exaggerating things, but Miku's a big deal back then in class. To have me openly challenge and have the guts to do what I did, I just made her hit list.

Sensei could feel the tension in the air and announced that we should carry on. He even thanked me for "helping" Miku. I smirked at her, I knew she was watching me from the corner of her eye. The only thing that proved that I was right was that I saw her snap her pencil in half.

xXx

"Why did you do that?"

Mind you, this was the first time Kaito had spoken to me, face-to-face, in over five months. I was overjoyed to see him, except he didn't appear like he was feeling the same thing about me.

"Why not? I was just helping her is a-"

"Oh don't give me that bullshit."

We were walking together to our next class when I stopped. Not ever, had I ever heard him swear before. Especially a word like that. But what hit me the most was that it was directed at _me_.

I scowled. "What the hell are you talking about? I got annoyed that she acted like she said it the way it's suppose to when she _obviously_ didn't and then try to bulldoze it over-"

"Because you don't like her."

"So? I was only trying to be a good peer and-"

"Miki, don't lie to me. I know when you are, I know how you treat people by how you talk to them. You should give Hatsune-sama more-"

"Hatsune-sama? _Hatsune-sama_? Since when did you start calling her that?"

"Will you just stop for a moment and listen to yourself-"

"Listen to _myself_? What about you? If I had a tape recorder right now, I'd love to replay your voice back to you and prove to you just how stupid you sound defending a pompous bitch like-"

"Don't you _dare_ call her that!"

I stopped walking. He noticed that I did and saw the shocked look I had on my face. I locked my jaw in anger and I swear my cheeks must have turned red from it all.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "What is it now? Are you going to pout because you can't have it your way? It doesn't hurt to be nice to people you know, even if-"

"Well look who's talking! What about Dell? What about him and his friends? They're mine and you hate them! You haven't even tried being nice to them, I don't even-"

"And just why the hell should I? He tried to fight you-"

"We were nine! That was ages ago! He's made plenty attempts at trying to be nice to you, but you just keep pushing him aside as if though-"

"Like I'd ever forgive that bastard-"

"Now don't _you_ call _him_ that!"

"Oh, so you think that you're the only one who can call my friends names like that?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? Miku isn't your friend, there's nowhere in hell you'd ever befriend a girl like that-"

"And what made you think I liked being friends with girls like you?"

Bullseye.

That one made its mark, and it left a permanent reminder in it. I clenched my fists and shot him a heated glare. "Hm, that's funny. You had no one as your friend when we were little. From what Akaito had told me, you were always that sad, lonely little brat who stayed indoors during the day, _just_ because he didn't know how to talk to people."

He stopped and noticed how tense his neck was.

"Oh, and don't let me stop there. Who was the one who helped you when things were bad? Who stood up for you when you needed help? Who showed you the secret pond that you and I used to spend most of our summer days in?" Last week, I went over there to just dip my feet in there. I saw Kaito's hair and I was about to call him out and wave high when I heard that annoying high-pitched laughter.

"Shut up! You didn't know-"

"Know what? Know that you were socially deprived until I came along? There was plenty of kids out there in the neighborhood to play! Dell wasn't the only one. There's Ron, Nero, Ted, Zansho, Gumo, Li, hell there's a whole bunch! But you stuck to me, like some kind of lost puppy. Without me, you'd still be a sad and lonely boy!"

I had no idea that I was practically yelling at him in the hallway, I was just so angry at him. How could he prefer a girl like that when he barely knew her? I know everything that there is to know about him.

I also had no idea how everyone was staring at us, having our first fight. The supposed best friends broke. I instantly felt ashamed and felt the color of my face darken for that moment. I hadn't meant to sound so spiteful, so hateful to him. But I did.

His eyes were wide, his breathing was coming in and out rapidly. I knew that this time, I really did it. He had forgiven me when I broke his toy train, he had forgiven me when I had ripped his favorite shirt, he had forgiven me when I had pushed him off the slide and got him in trouble with his mom over his stained pants. He even forgave me when I broke his arm.

But I knew that he'd never forgive me for doing that to him in front of anybody.

Our promise to each other came back to me at that moment, the childish pinky promise we made to each other to always be friends. If I had known that something like this would have happened between us, I would have never asked him to do such a thing. I wouldn't be feeling like I had just severed the last strain of our bond.

We just stood there for a long while until we both turned towards the direction of tapping heels.

"Oh my gosh! Those were horrible things to say to poor Kai-Kai!"

That was the last straw. She just called him the childhood name that I gave him. Kai-Kai is my nickname to him. Because Kai-Kai is mine.

All I could remember was that beautiful scream ringing in my ears, feeling those long, silky teal locks flow through my fingers, my knuckles grazing against that surprisingly smooth skin of hers.

It took several people to try and stop me from trying to kill her.

I was nearly expelled were it not from the help of my parents. But when they exited out the door from the principal's office... I-I won't say, I'm tired... I'm sorry, I really am...

U-ummm... maybe tomorrow, I guess?

* * *

><p>AN:

*stretches her tired limbs* Sitting in this chair... for three hours straight... uploaded thrice in one day... I'm on a roll! XD

Eh, leave a review if you want that's filled with compliment, flames, criticism or just leave one to say hi and whatevs. I'm tired and I'm off to my history class. ^^


	4. Allies

A/N:

Okay, I took a bit to update, but here it is! I'm trying to be more consistant, but unfortunaltely for One Chance, I ended up having a virus and it wiped out the saved documents for it. *sigh* Back to the drawing board, I guess... OTL

I usually have it saved in my USB jumpdrive, but er... I'm a little irresponsible and I ended up misplacing it. It's somewhere! Just gotta find it before I completely lose motivarion to continue it, and I really don't want to do that because it's my first FanFic and everything. ^^"

Anyway, enough ranting and I hope you enjoy this chapter. ^^

* * *

><p>Kaito and I spent more than a year not talking to one another.<p>

He acted as if though I never existed.

Can't say I blame him, can you? If someone did that to me, I surely wouldn't have welcomed them back with open arms. So it was the most ucomfortable school year ever.

I was soon forgotten from his life as Miku quickly filled in the vacant spot. Every day, she would sit next to him, share her snacks and would giggle and run her fingers through his hair.

I was forced to sit on the other side of the room, for fear I would exert any force to "bully" her into submission. Honestly, it was as if though they had it engraved in their minds that I'm some kind of monster.

Well, I guess beating the crap out of this county's most beloved teen pop star could label you that.

Piko was my only loyal comapanion. It didn't bother him that he was outcasted for being related to me, he didn't even like Miku so the less he was around people who talked nonstop about her, the better.

"I don't think he'll hold it against you forever."

"Yes he will! I mean, would you forgive me if I yelled out your flaws and basicaly dissed you in front of everyone at school?"

"..."

"That's what I thought."

"But you're family, that's different. I'd have to learn how to deal with you anyway."

"But he and I aren't even related! So he's totally free to hate me."

"Why do you even care so much about what he thinks? You used to ignore him all the time whenever I came over to visit from Germany. You always paid more attention to me and pretty much casted him aside."

"Well... that was because I rarely got to see you when we were little. And I could always see him everyday and at school. Remember when I told you he snucked into my room at night a couple times back when we were ten?"

"A young rapist in the making."

"Shut up! He's not like that!"

"Then there's only one other reason as to why you're overreacting."

"Really? What is it?"

"Can't tell you because you'll beat my face in for even bringing it up."

"Wha- Well you did! You brought it up and I wanna know! If you don't tell me, then I'll really beat your face in!"

He stopped chewing his grilled tofu and smirked at me. "You've already gotten one warning; I don't think they'd care that you hit your cousin in front of thousands of eyes because then they'd be eager to get rid of you."

I stopped myself and pouted. I hated to admit it, but he was right and I had no choice. I stuffed my mouth with some steamed rice and was forced to listen to him chuckling to himself in triumph.

xXx

And so, my days had mainly consisted of being around Piko of almost all hours of the day. It wasn't long until I began to see him as a bore and I'm positive he had begun to see me as such in no time. Though that never meant that he didn't have fun with me. He never failed to find a way to rattle me and loved making me mad.

He claimed it's because it's part of my charm.

I claimed that it's because he wanted an excuse to commit suicide.

Whatever the case, he was all I had and I was all that he had. Until we had gotten our new "members", that is.

It was already our second year of school, meaning that Dell and his friends were going to graduate that year.

I was a little saddened by it, but I knew it was going to happen anyway. I was actually thinking about them when they walked into class.

A girl with long flowing blonde hair with a pissed off look on her face walked in, followed by a girl with forest green hair who wore red-rimmed glasses that had a cheery look in her eyes.

Sensei did the usual introduction for them but with much less enthusiasm than what Miku had received all that time ago. Obviously.

The one in green was the first to speak. "Hello! My name is Gumi Megpoid and this is my sister Lily Megpoid! Please take care of us, I hope that we can be friends with all of you!" she finished with a small clap and had the biggest smile on her face.

I grimaced. Oh great, not another Mary Sue.

Although, the one who caught my attention the most was the blonde one, Lily. Besides the scowl on her face, she seemed to be very quiet and reserved. So I liked her right away. Even though I never had the intention of ever actually speaking to her.

I looked at the empty seat Kaito used to be. Maybe the teacher will let one of them sit next to me?

Of course, Fate is cruel and they were both close to the side where Miku was at and I sighed. After that fiasco, the teacher probably thinks I'd attack any new student. Never before had I wished to be have Piko by my side than at that moment. I wished he wasn't so damn smart in math.

xXx

After that "eventful" moment, the day went by pretty fast and before Piko and I knew it, it was already lunch time.

We sat at our usual table, one that could easily hold up to twenty people but instead only held two. Before I could even open up my bento box, we heard a crash.

Startled, we jumped out of our seats to see if we could find the cause of it and our eyes landed on the new girls. The girl with green hair looked terrified at her sister who had her fists balled up into tight fists.

For a second there, I could've sworn that they were going to fight, until we heard that sickenly sweet voice.

"C-calm down! You can sit at our table, I only said it just so that-"

"Shut the fuck up! I don't need any of your excuses! Don't you dare try to make up all of that crap with us you-"

The more she talked to her, the more I felt the corners of my mouth pull up in a wide grin. Soon enough, she grabbed onto her sisters hand, picked up their packed lunches, and stormed away from Miku's table.

They looked a little lost until I got up. Piko raised a questionable brow. "You're going to help them?" he asked with a small smile.

I nodded. "Of course, they're like us now." That being said, I practically skipped in their direction and plopped myself in front of them.

The blonde girl, Lily was it?, looked ready to deck me until I shrugged over my table. "We have extra seats in case you're interested."

Lily opened her mouth to tell me off but his sister cut her off. "Really? That's great! Isn't that great, Lily-chan?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Yeah, splendid." she said, feigning excitement even though we all knew she was being incredibly sarcastic with me. But I chose to ignore it and walked them over to our table.

"This is my cousin, Piko Utatane. Piko, these girls are in my math class. This is Lily Megpoid," I said, gesturing towards the blonde, "and this is her sister, Gu-"

"Gumi Megpoid, pleased to meet you Piko-kun!" She exclaimed as she thrusted a hand right in his face. I thought I heard him gag on his onigiri in surprise as he lightly coughed in his hand and before replying in a weak voice, "Pleased to meet you."

I smiled, at least he was attemtpting to be polite. If somebody normally did that to him, he'd throw a bitch fit and have them take their hand out of his face.

Maybe it was because Gumi obviously looked like she'd be the trustworthy type? I didn't think much of it as Lily sat next to me while Gumi squeezed in between me and Piko.

It was my turn to look at Piko suspiciously as he turned slightly pink at having Gumi's elbow nudge him on his shoulder.

I couldn't help but smirk at him. He noticed what I was doing and jumped before looking away in embarrasment.

Love at first sight anyone~?

xXx

Lunch was actually pretty fun and I was actually disappointed when it was over. Maybe it felt like that because it was interesting listening to Piko and Gumi talk about electronics and whatever geeky stuff that seemed like of utmost importance to them.

Lily and I didn't really exchange anything with one another until I risked a glance towards Miku's table and saw that sour expression on her pretty face.

It was the perfect opportunity for me to attempt and befriend Lily so I turned to her with a small smile and slightly tilted my head. "So, you and Gumi never said where you two are from. Are you from Japan or from a different country?"

She completely ignored me as she ate her noodles in silence. Okay, that could've gone better...

So I tried again. "Are you and Gumi twins?"

"Are you ever gonna shut that motor mouth of yours or do I have to?"

I frowned. "You're a bit anti-social, aren't you?"

"And you're a bit nosy, aren't you?"

"And you're a bit bitchy, aren't you?"

"And you're a bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?"

"Well look at that, they're getting along quite nicely! Wouldn't you agree, Gumi-chan?"

We both turned around to face Gumi and Piko. They were both grinning like idiots at us, it was really starting to piss me off.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Lily beat me to the punch, but Piko could tell that I was thinking the same exact thing. He chuckled and stirred his egg soup with his spoon.

"Oh nothing, it's just that you two are pretty alike with your attitudes, that's all."

She and I quickly glanced at each other before scoffing and turned our faces away from each other. After that, she and I were staring at a some part of our lunches, acting as if though whatever piece of food it was was the most interesting thing at the moment.

For some reason, I slowly looked up to stare at Miku's table and noticed that Kaito was staring at me while Miku was too busy talking to a girl with drilled pigtails about something.

He and I both noticed that and quickly averted our eyes. I hated how badly everything seemed and how everything was so awkward between us, but... That's the new norm and we both tried to accept it.

Or at least I tried to.

The only good that came from this was that Miku gave me two new friends, even though the other one isn't so keen on using the term.

But for now, it'll have to do. I now have somebody else to listen to and that was good enough for me. Beggars can't be choosers, after all.

* * *

><p>AN:

Again, I just think that Miki, Lily, and Gumi make a good trio of friends. I have no idea why, I've never liked the whole Miku, Miki, and Gumi trio whenever they sang. They sound great together, but for some particular reason I just don't like to see them as a group of close-nit friends that most of my peers see them as. It's just that the whole reasoning even escapes me. :/

Short chapter is short, just a little more than 2000 words.

Okay, now this will be a bit more Miki-centered for the next couple of chapters or so, but I'll be adding more characters, more pairings and the like. I'll even post up a poll of whether or not any of you would want me to post up Kaito's thoughts on this, but I'll do that after the next chapter or so.

Or I could do it sooner if that's what you want. ^^"


	5. Meaning of Love

A/N:

Updating will be slower now that classes are starting to pick up the pace. So, I'm apologizing ahead of time. Thank you for your patience, I hope to get this finished pretty soon, this is starting to look like it'll be my first finished multi-chapter story.

* * *

><p>The next several months are so were bearable. So I honestly couldn't say that I was miserable, per se, but I had more than my fair share of uneventful moments.<p>

First year came and went. We bid our goodbyes to all of our senior friends as we watched them graduate and get a glimpse of the new found pride etched on their faces.

I came to their graduation wearing a pink camisole, a grey sweater protecting me from the cold (the graduating class of that year was so huge that they held it outside of our small school), light blue skinny jeans and a pair of slip on white shoes. Not very dressy, but I tried to make it seem like I wasn't trying to make it seem like it was a huge deal. After all, it was a painful reminder that it was a collective farewell.

"You okay?"

I silently gasped and swerved to face my cousin. He looked bored and was slumped over in his seat, but I knew that his eyes said otherwise.

"Yeah, I'm just a little cold is all."

He looked me over and placed one of his hands over mine. "I don't think the cold would make you want to hold onto that pamplet that tightly." he whispered.

It wasn't until he said that when I looked down and noticed that I was constricting the life out it. If paper was alive, that is. I loosened my hold on it, the color gradually returning to my white knuckles and sighed. I rubbed my tired eyes and rested my head against his shoulder.

"Okay, let's just say I was actually dreading this moment and that I haven't been sleeping well lately."

He weakly smiled and patted my hand. "I know that they were what you had left, but it's not the end of the world that they're leaving. Just think, after this they have their whole lives ahead of them! I don't think any of them would want to feel as if though they let you down or anything. So cheer up and smile, you know that they really do care about what you think."

I lightly laughed and took my head off of him. He was right, as usual, and I scanned the many rows of students to see if I could find them. I caught sight of Dell's ivory hair, since I don't know nor see anybody else with that hair color down there, and cupped my hands around my mouth.

"Deli! Congrats!" I screamed and saw him look up in surprise. He smiled and gave me a quick nod of acknowledgement before going back to talking to this other girl with short brown hair with honey-brown eyes.

I head Piko facepalm. "You know, you didn't have to call him out like that. That wasn't what I meant." he grumbled the last part.

With a huge grin, I sat back down on my seat and giggled. "Oh come on, you know that was totally Miki of me to do!" I exclaimed. The corners of his mouth twitched, fighting back the urge to smile at my stupidity. I helped him out by placing my index fingers to the corners of his mouth and shifted them upwards.

"Now you're the one who needs to smile," I teased. He lowered his eyebrows and attempted to bite my fingers which earned him a well deserved slap. He didn't complain, I didn't hit him that hard this time and he just winced.

We sat in silence for a few more moments, listening to all of those speeches drone on and on about the school's succes yadda yadda yadda.

After that section of torture was finished, I nearly lost my voice cheering on for Dell, Nero, Ron and even Mikuo. When they finally sat down, a few of their friends would whisper in their ears and they would all flash a deep shade of red. Even now they refuse to tell me what they said, but I never beat it out of them. I think it really is best I never know.

Before they left, I ran up to them and gave them all a hug, which genuinely surprised them since I've never done that before. And they realized the reason why when Mikuo refused to let me go and after "five minutes" had long past. It took everybody to try and pry him off of me, I swear, there's something wrong with him, there has to be.

We spoke to each other about their plans for the future, where they'll be headed, what they wanted to do if they ever did settle down (I have yet to give Mikuo a call now I that think about it...) while Piko and I politely listened to them. I laughed at appropriate times, teased them when the chance was given and admitted that life would get much more quieter with them being gone.

In return, they tried to ease my worries with words of encouragement and even attempted to give me a few more hugs. _Attempted_.

xXx

Piko made sure I snucked through my window safely after he dropped me off at my place. It was around five in the morning and we had just decided to leave Nero's house. His older sister, who's in her second year of college, threw him a party and invited us over to join in on the fun. Of course she knew we were a little too young, but all we had to do was promise not to act stupid (what do you call what most of the people did, including the guy that threw the futon out onto the ourdoor apple orchard?) and to not accept any drinks.

Simple enough and now the only thing I had to worry about was whether or not Piko was going to make it back home without a single dent on his car. Or for his parents not to notice that his car is missing its right rear-view mirror.

The mental image of my femy looking uncle (I can see where Piko got his looks) and his loud and abrasive mother came to mind and I couldn't help but giggle. Poor Piko, I'd hate to be in his position in a few hours.

I yawned and stretched my tired limbs and started to strip out of my clothes and lazily dropped them aside before changing into my pajamas. I didn't feel like crawling into bed so I let my body flop onto the beaten cherry ice cream beanbag.

My body shivered as a reminder that I didn't cover myself up with anything and that it wasn't a good idea to slap on a tank top and shorts with the window opened.

I sluggishly got up and forced my arm to reach for the handle and pull it together to lock it. A pang of familiarity hit me when my eyes glanced at the balcony. With a tight frown, I harshly shut the double doors, no longer caring if my parents heard me and rested my forehead against the cool glass.

My body knew the perfect time to remember such painful moments as I slowly sank to the floor on my knees. Why was I thinking about him? I didn't even see him there at the school. Now I knew that that was proof enough that he really didn't like them and had only put up for them for my sake. But then, if he did for me, why did he just drop me?

I choked back a sob and slapped myself and started to yank onto my hair. I couldn't keep on letting little things like that snake its way through my head. What's done is done and there isn't anything in the world that could change that. I started to repeat that to myself in my mind and rubbed my hands together until I felt calm again.

With a forced smile, I got up and looked around the room for a hair tie. Once I had found one, after stumbling a bit in the dark, I checked my reflection in my mirror and I felt my fingers violently twitch as they picked up a book. If I didn't remind myself not to lose my mind, I would've thrown it just to see that reflection actually shatter in front of my eyes.

I hated it, I hated what I had become. A weak and needy little girl that relied too much on people and could barely stay afloat without them.

It's the alcohol, I kept telling myself. It's a depressant, right? It's natural to feel almost insane. It's natural that your former best friend had nearly pushed you off the brink of insanity.

A twisted smile came up onto my face and I let the book drop onto the floor with a heavy thud.

I sighed in contentment as I let myself drop onto the beanbag again while my body sank into it. I rubbed my temples, my eyes, my cheeks. I stopped when my fingers hovered over my sore lips. Ron's a better kisser than I thought.

My mind was beginning to feel fuzzy and I hoped that once morning came, my parents wouldn't notice that I was gone for so long and that my clothes reeked of alcohol.

xXx

I didn't see much of the Shions that summer. Piko knew I wouldn't have anything to do so he convinced his parents weeks ago to ask mine if it'd be alright if I came with him to Portugal. My aunt and uncle have this sort of summer villa over there in some little village close to the country side and they usual go over there and spend about two weeks living there.

My parents instantly agreed. They started keeping tabs on me and they were beginning to believe I was suffering from a bad case of depression because school was out and that most of my friends were gone. I blamed my hormones. Told them that I was going through one of those teenage stages and for them not to go on and assume that I was going emo on them.

I was boarded onto a first class plane next to Piko sipping on some iced tea watching the clouds out my window. I felt bubbly and couldn't sit still. At least I didn't drink as much as Piko did at the party, he looked groggy and paler than usual. But considering he was coming along for the trip meant that either his parents don't know about the car, or he managed to get it fixed. I'm pretty sure it's the latter, he's really smart. Somewhere along the way, he made it a habit to sleep onto my shoulder and cling onto my arm, occasionally calling me "Gumi".

I rolled my eyes and patted his head. At least he was bold enough to exchange numbers with her. And then she exchanged numbers with me, including Lily's because she thinks that I'm Lily's best friend. I had to hold back a sarcastic remark considering she and I probably only had one real conversation, and that was over fighting techniques. Keeper, isn't she?

"Is everything okay Miki?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts and looked up to see my aunt's maroon eyes. "I'm fine oba-chan. Thank you so much for allowing me to come with you and oji-chan!" I said gleefully.

She smiled and ruffled my hair, her long red nails grazing my scalp. It felt good, honestly, feeling loved as I watched her walk away. I couldn't help but look at Piko and wonder for perhaps the upteenth of how in the world he got white hair when his dad's is some kind of shade of purple and that his mom's mouse brown.

I shrugged and looked up at the small screens that started playing some kind of romantic comedy or something. I didn't really pay too much attention to it because I fell asleep shortly afterwards with my head resting on top of Piko's.

xXx

Two weeks came by too quickly in my opinion. It was amazing, it looked a lot like Purbeck with all of that open fields and the serenity of nature engulfing you. I even got to meet some of Piko's summer friends, including this one guy named Spark Enjel. Honestly, the guy was really cute, nice and funny. Thankfully Piko told me a bit about his friends when he felt more like himself on the plane and I knew that he didn't like rude people and those with no manners.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know the whole "don't-change-who-you-are-and-just-be-yourself" kind of crap but he was really, really nice and I'd feel guilty if I purposely ticked him off!

... Plus I even got his phone number, tee hee~!

I got a little burnt, but it wasn't so bad after I realized that sunblock is your best friend. I loved going to this little pond that reminded me of the one close to home. And it gave me the opportunity to see Spark- N-nevermind! ! I-I was getting ahead of myself... I'm sick, I'm having a fever! Denial? Psh, please. Moving on~

Well, after Piko and I threw our bags onto a taxi, we said our goodbyes to our friends. I actually recieved a few hugs from them, including one that lasted for like, an eternity from Spark. My gosh, why couldn't we go there for the whole month off?

My parents were smiling at me when they came to pick me up from the airport and was surprised at how tanned I was. They looked very happy too that I seemed to be a lot looser and became a bit more low maintance after that.

Once they took me home and after I dropped my things onto the floor, I faceplanted my bed. I was so tired and yet I felt refreshed from the inside. I think that was exactly what I needed, a vacation. A vacation away from everyone, from all of my problems...

And it was interrupted by the annoying ring of my phone. I groaned and threw a pillow at it, I didn't feel like picking up and checking just who the hell it was. I had expected the person to get the message after I had refused to pick up my phone after letting it ring five times, but I guess not when it went on to number ten.

"Alright already, you win dammit!" I cried and picked up the bloody phone and angrily and flipped it open. "What do you want?" I shot at the person.

"U-uh, is this a bad time Miki?"

...

...

...

...

...

YES! My face is red because I was and still am embarrased about it, okay? ! I didn't think he'd try to call me that soon!

Nyah, I'm not whimpering! And shut up, my face will go back to normal, don't have to keep bringing it up! Hmph! I'm mad at you now, I'll just tell you that he and I talked for a while after I apologized to him, profusely might I add, and we talked to each other for two hours straight.

Call it a small crush or something, but I really did like him and I think that maybe he liked me too.

...

...

...

...

...

... Yes, I'm c-crying... S-stop looking at me, just let me dry them off for a sec...

U-uh, Spark and I never got to find out if our feelings were reciprocal or something like that because he was u-uh... he was k-killed in a hit and run several days later when he went to town to pick up a few things...

Never...ever, never, for never ever, make the same mistake I did. I should have told him, I should have... Because not knowing is the worst thing in life than risking it for a small chance at happiness.

... Please give me a minute... Well... I don't know, I mean, this doesn't apply to everyone, but I've kind of realized what love really is a lot about. Love is pretty much making a huge fuss over somthing or someone. And then you do or something happens that hurts you... I guess what I'm trying to say is that love is making a big fuss over something and then getting hurt in the end.

But that sort of hurt is worth it.

* * *

><p>AN:

I was listening to the music box verision of "When the First Love for the First Time" and it helped me writing that last piece. Sad, I know, but I really do have a bit of a problem with that. And I love UTAUloids very much, so I think I'll make a story about a few of my favorites one day.


	6. Illness

A/N:

Had nothing better to do so I decided to get this over with. :3

*sigh* I really need to work on my other Fics like _One Chance_ ...

* * *

><p>Several days after Stella, a friend of Sparks, sent me the message of his death, I left with Piko and his family to go back to Portugal. For Sparks' funeral. I don't think I could remember a day that I cried for someone that hard. I had to hold onto Stella, Nami and Piko for support. I made it crystal clear on how I felt about him.<p>

I almost dreaded going home and I visited his burial place every single day to speak with him. I even confessed right next to him. I know I made Piko and his family worried. So much for trying to convince them that nothing's wrong with me.

Several days later, we said our good byes to them, but it felt empty without him. But I guess I'm okay, now. It doesn't hurt as much as it did when I first heard about it. But it's not like I've _forgotten_ him, more like I've come to accept it, I guess? There isn't a day that passes by when he doesn't cross my mind. I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about. Thank you for understanding.

Home was miserable after that. I rarely smiled and I only left my room when I needed to. I have no idea how much weight I lost that summer, but I can tell you one thing. I did not go on a diet. Come to think of it, I didn't see any of the Shion's during that time, but that suited me just fine. It wasn't like I wanted to see Kaito or anything like that, I just thought that our relationship was already beyond repair at that point.

The last week of summer was spent with Lily, Gumi and Piko. We used our time up by going to the mall, watching movies, visiting the summer festivals, the usual things that teens do. At least my parents stopped giving me crap about being depressed and whatnot once they saw me coming home with a smile on my face.

Second year of high school was alright. I only had a few classes with Kaito but this time I had none with Miku. Thank the higher powers that I didn't have to deal with her.

I spent my days with the usual group and Piko and I managed to get Lily to open up to us even more. Turns out that she and Gumi are actually fraternal twins. I never expected that, they look so... different. Huh? That's what fraternal means? ...I said nothing, thus you heard nothing. NUUUUUU! Moving on, moving on!

I can say for a fact that my second year was perhaps the most boring year of my whole entire high school career. Don't worry, I set myself up for it. I made sure I avoided Miku at all costs, ignored Kaito's fleeting looks, studied extra hard for my exams, and tried to balance my home life. My parents didn't let up, maybe I did change a little too much?

... I'm sorry, but I lied. Something big did happen that year and I know I can't run it over. It'll come up in the future, or it may not. Either way, it might more than likely slip out so I guess I might as well just say it.

My parents were planning on getting divorced.

Now, they did argue on some occasions, but it wasn't the kind of fighting were they yell and scream profanities at each other and threaten to kill each other. So I was rather surprised when they just opted to tell me that they were thinking on perhaps splitting.

Or I was just blind, stuck in my own little world filled with my own little problems not even coming to think that maybe, just maybe, my parents had some of their own. I'm selfish, I know. But I guess I wasn't used to having to deal with all of that in such a short amount of time. I think I'm a bit better.

I think.

I'll give you a spoiler: my parent's marriage had only dissolved briefly. But I think the last of it probably had something to do with the proper cleansing of a Simka pan. One night after my mother had made lamb and rice stew, she screamed about the state of the kitchen and how it wasn't her sole responsibility and who, who! on Earth cleaned the Simka pan with a scouring pad, permanently ruining it?

In fact, I had ruined it. I did the dishes without her asking me to after we had finished reading and after she and father went upstairs to their room to relax. But either my father didn't know or care or simply felt emasculated by my sponge-sensitive edict that is my mother that he refused to obey.

"Why not just replace the pan?" he asked.

"Replace it every week?" she shot back.

"Why not?"

"Fine. Let's just replace everything every week. Miki doesn't need to go to college."

"That's a different argument. Live a little, Luka. Goodness gracious, it's just a fucking pan!"

"It's not just a pan, this is about compromise. All life is compromise!"

Now, I may not have had much experience in the romance department at the time, but I was reasonably certain that while I was standing at the top of the stairs going to my room to sleep for the night, shrieking that all life was compromise was no way to keep a marriage alive.

So, when my parents had finished screaming at each other and went to bed, I quietly left my room and walked into the kitchen, collected the pan, slipped my shoes on, and ventured out through the back door. Once I had found the shovel, I buried the pan in the backyard along with the hamsters, rabbits and cats who'd already found their final resting place there.

I didn't tell anyone. The pan just disappeared. Father replaced it. They continued to argue.

I know I should've paid more attention to the fights, but I honestly thought that they were just going through some phase that always happens in families. I mean, they've argued with each other this badly before, why would should it be any different? Later, there was loud accusations of "invalidation", "projection", and then hushed and tearful talks of a "transitional object."

My father moved out.

xXx

When I finally confessed my role to the whole Simka pan drama to the school counselor after she had called me in for nearly three months, wondering what happened to my parent's marriage, I was sent to a carefully selected therapist.

She was a kind and aged woman with worry lines across her brow and deep laughter lines that creased the sides of her mouth. After visiting her three times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, for almost three weeks, she felt she had gathered enough information out of me.

She called both of my parents in and while the four of us was in her small office decorated with family photos, degrees, and pressed dry flowers, she told us her analysis of me. She warned them about my tendency to bend the will of others, to avoid conflict through a policy of action and silence, stoicism and secrecy.

I couldn't help raise a questionable brow. _Hadn't this woman read anything?_ I couldn't help but wonder during her long tirade of possible issues. _This is how things are done: under cover at night, preferably with a shovel._ And I did not avoid conflict through the three S's. I rarely did that! I mainly let my fists do it for me. That was just a once in a lifetime deal. They're my parents after all, I can't just beat them into silent submission over a pointless argument over a silly, non-stick frying pan.

"Be careful you don't do that to your future relationships with men. Or women if that's your preference."

It took me a moment or two to realize she had just spoken to me and I nodded blankly at her. She and my parents seemed satisfied with my answer and I left with my mother back home. Several minutes later, my father knocked on the door and my mother had let him in.

They did that for almost a week. It was the same thing for that long. Father would come over. Mother would let him in. They'd talk about something. Sometimes they would have a little wine and laugh a little. Then they surprised me.

My parents reconciled.

Happiness was soon restored.

I even made a mental note in my head thanks to that incident: Don't get worked up over stupid, small stuff.

While I sat on my bed in the dead of night, thinking about all that had happened in almost four months, I was satisfied. Life was still shaky, but at least my home foundation was sturdy again. But the therapist's words did slightly disturb me. I honestly don't think of myself as a manipulative bitch. I'm positive that Piko, Gumi, heck even Lily, would vouch for me and claim that I'm not.

_And what about Kaito?_

A small voice in my head asked me in a calm tone and it somewhat felt like it had an edge of accusation in it. I frantically shook my head and looked over my shoulder to read the digital clock.

Four twenty-seven in the freakin' morning.

I pulled my duvet over my head and tried to sleep and drown the nagging voice away with my dreams.

The next morning, Piko commented saying that I basically looked like crap. Damn midget didn't have to sound like Shakespeare. He deserved that bruise on his shoulder. And he should thank me for it, Gumi wouldn't leave his side after that.

Several nights had passed and still, I had issues sleeping. Soon enough, I diagnosed myself into believing that I now have sleep problems. Insomnia to be exact.

I couldn't help but think that maybe, deep down, something was really wrong with me.

* * *

><p>AN:

Wow, this could be finished a lot sooner than expected. I'm pretty happy how this is turning out, but that's just me. ^^ Now I'm tired and need to go to sleep. Noight everyone~


	7. Matching Set

Of course I'd wake up at four in the morning. Four to seven is my new contemplation hour. My head felt ready to burst from the lack of sleep as I tossed and turned in my bed. After about twenty minutes or so struggling to find a comfortable position, I stopped and stared up at my ceiling. My thoughts, naturally, turned to Sparks before abruptly swapping to Kaito.

In my annoyance, I threw my pillow over my face and screamed into it. _Why the hell do I keep thinking about him?_ I asked myself. With a heavy sigh, I forced my body to get up from my bed and stretched. I let my pajamas fall onto the floor without a care and walked on over to my closet to see if I had anything to wear that could help me brace against December's harsh and bitter winds.

I forgot to mention this, but at this point it's already my last year of high school. And it still was just the four of us against everyone. Against Miku. While my lazy eyes scanned my many articles of clothing, my mother's voice came ringing in my head...

"Oh."

It was a week after my "little" outburst to Kaito that I had finally decided to tell her that our friendship was finished. I knew she'd be disappointed. So was my father, they both loved Kaito. In fact, he made me seem more approachable to them. But leave it to my mother to reconfigure a negative event in my life into something positive.

"Maybe you should look on this as a terrific opportunity to get organized!"

And she meant it. My mother started listening to this insane therapist's advice to do people's closets. But not just "do" them, but to arrange them for a special consultation, order necessary items of clothing. The combined practice of assessment, organization, and "letting go" was a profoundly individual, though universal, therapeutic process. That, she discovered, was indeed a form of therapy, and an effective one at that.

As if my mother needed any more convincing, the damn therapist bragged about it even more when she told her a success story she had dealt with. One of her patients was a middle-aged woman, an alcoholic whose husband beat her regularly. Years of therapy hadn't helped this woman, who continually returned to her husband only to have another rib broken, another tooth knocked across the kitchen floor.

But after having her closets done, a miraculous transformation occured: The woman kicked her husband out and stopped drinking. Countless therapy sessions had failed to breathe courage into this woman as the daily sight of neatly folded merino woool sweaters tucked away see-through acrylic boxes had obviously done the trick.

"There's just something about an ordered closet that says, 'I can!'" my mother explained to me. "What's the first thing you think of when you wake up? 'What am I going to wear?' But what does your closet reflect back at you? 'I'm a sloppy loser-I have no control over my life.' A well-ordered closet reflects a well-ordered sense of self and well-being. A clean closet says, 'I matter.' "

My fourteen year old self sat in silence the whole time my mother went on and on about it. Being the patient daughter that they had raised me to be, I finally took it as my chance to jump in and voice my opinion.

"No thank you, Mother."

"But you'll feel worlds better!"

"No, I'm swamped right now, anyway."

"If you invest the time now, you'll be saving it in the future."

"No thank you. Really."

Before she could say anything else, I got up from my seat and speed-walked to the stairs. My parents tried to raise a patient daughter, but I only have so much of it. Everyone has their limitations.

Now, almost four years later, I'm looking at my messy closet with a black coat in hand. I started seriously considering the advice she had given me all that time ago. But then a new thought came in mind as I realized just how silly it sounded. I mean, really, how could cleaning out my closet honestly do all of those wonders for me?

Without a second thought, I slipped on a black thermal, black leggings and sweatpants, and a pair of fuzzy fleece socks. I risked a glance at the mirror and nearly strangled myself with my hair. I really am losing it; the least I could do is attempt to wear things that did _not_ reflect my actual mood to the public.

To ease my suicidal thoughts, I slapped on a white coat and wrapped a hot pink scarf around my neck.

_There_, I thought to myself, _much better_.

xXx

The crunchy, white powder stuck to the bottom of my pink boots that released a beautiful melody with every step I took. Snow didn't come that often enough in there so I was always happy to hear them and to feel the soft snowflakes leave gentle kisses on my frigid cheeks. The cold doesn't really bother me, rather, my body craved for it. Maybe it could be because people say it cools down my hot-headed personality. Maybe it could be because it reminded me of home. Or maybe because I wanted the cold to leave me senseless because I was so tired of feeling. I just wanted to go numb.

Whatever the reason, my mind wandered back to you-know-who and started making these letters in my head. I already knew that he'd never want to speak to me face-to-face ever again, so these letters were my way of communicating with him, or so to speak. Sometimes they would begin with something like, "Lenny Bruce once said that there's nothing sadder than an aging hipster-this statement makes me think of you,"or the more direct and the sort of style that suits me best, "Dear Asshole, how's your Asian whore? Just swell I hope."

I laughed to myself after I thought of how silly it made sound. But at the same time, I couldn't help but imagine the endless possibilities of responses he could have told me from that last statement.

I tightened my hold on my scarf against the wind. A wave of nostalgia worked its way through my body as I passed every tree, bench and restaurant that Kaito and I used to stop by.

I sighed. It's all just stories. I'm already becoming someone else's story. Leaving behind a reckless redhead would be the story of how he came to notices Miku. Of how he took the chance to ask her out and to become her boyfriend. It'll be the story he would some day tell to their indifferent, yawning grandchildren at picnics. He'd have a little too much spiked vanilla ice cream and then my visage would inexplicably surface in his mind, my image yellowing at the edges but still vivid. Still vivid in the center.

But worse, I felt as if though Kaito was becoming a story, a story to dine out on, a story to impress others with powers of wry observation. This is what a great companion is, ha ha ha.

These sorts of losses made every story you told yourself about how you got to be where you are- why you were were with this person and not the other, why you lived on this corner in this city, where you worked in that building and how you felt the way you did about all of those things- the loss suddenly made all these stories untrue. It ripped the narrative. Suddenly you had to invent a new story- a story to make sense of what happened to you- on the fly, without professional consultation. You made do, you made things and hoped for the best. There was no time for reflection. Reflection made the bottom fall out all over again, it made you stare vacantly at the cars racing across from you as you walk towards the little park you used to visit all the time as a child.

...I'm sorry, did I lose you in all of that? If I did, then again, my apologies. Just ignore it, I was just ranting, that's all.

Well, I almost didn't realize that I had walked myself over to the park, even though I was almost hit with several different cars and it wasn't until I finally decided to turn around that I finally noticed that the people were screaming profanitites at me. I showed them indifference and walked away. After all, they're okay and I'm okay. No need to make a huge fuss over it anymore.

I shivered, the cold was finally getting to me and I decided to turn back around. After all, what business did I have here at the park to even begin with? As I was turning around, I heard that sickenly sweet laughter ring in my ears, shattering my resolve and I dared myself to look behind me to see if it really was the she-wolf.

There she was, with a huge grin plastered on her face, swinging on the rusty swings with Kaito pushing her from right behind. I felt my heart lurch and twist into a painful knot. I just couldn't take it anymore. Why do I even bother leaving the safe vicinity of my home if I knew that there were things such as that that tortures me?

I gave a sharp turn and started to march forward, hot tears stinging my cheeks and I pulled my scarf over my nose, hoping that they hadn't seen me.

During the time I was internally admonishing myself for being such a freakin' masochist, I ended up bumping into something hard and fell back and a small gasp escaped me before I could stop myself. I heard somebody yell my name from the background and felt a pair of arms wrap around my waist.

I had my eyes closed the entire time, expecting to hear a crack or something from my body making contact on the iced over concrete. So you could imagine how surprised I was when I slowly opened my eyes to see a pair of jade green eyes look back at me. That wasn't the only thing I noticed, the person had light, golden blonde hair. And the accent.

"Oh my gosh! My apologies, I wasn't looking where I was going. Are you alright?"

I blinked. I was speechless. That guy sounded a lot like me. A lot like me when I actually speak to my parents in english...

"Uh, I-I'm sorry, you probably can't understand what I'm saying to you..."

I snapped out of my trance and shook my head. I can't believe I've made this guy feel bad for my own stupidity! "No, it's quite alright. I know what you're saying. Are you by any chance English?"

I startled him when he noticed that I spoke back to him in his tongue. A look of relief crossed his face as his cheeks turned pink. "I'm sorry that I assumed that you didn't know what I was saying. I do know a little bit of japanese, it's just a habit that I have since I'm not used to it... Oh and yes, I'm from the British Isles."

God, how I've missed hearing that accent. "Not a problem! I've lived here almost my whole life, so I know what you mean. Really? All the way from there?"

He looked a little confused. "All of your life? Then how can you speak english so well?"

I smiled. " I said _almost_ because I moved here when I was four and I have an english class at school. But not like learning grammar and whatnot... Actually it is all of that but you also learn english phrases and the lot. So I still remember how, I haven't forgotten."

"Ah, I see. Are you from England as well?"

"Mhm, I'm a Purbeck native. Not as fancy as the Isles, but darn good close enough if I should say so myself."

We both laughed a little bit and he looked down on me. "So then, is it safe to ask you if you know where my school will be at?"

I nodded. "Perfectly safe. Or if I could be of any assistance. After all, I wouldn't want you to get lost, Japan can be a pretty scary place if that happens."

"And even more so with my limited knowledge of the language!"

"Precisely."

To my pleasant surprise, he was attending the same school that I was and I couldn't help but smile. "Hey, you and I go to the same school!"

He had the same look on his face. "Really? Well would you look at that! Lucky aren't we?"

I nodded in agreement. "I don't mean to sound stalkerish or anything, but which neighborhood do you reside in? If you can come out from the mouth of the entrance, then I'm positive you and I could walk each other over there until you've got the route memorized."

He laughed at my question and nodded. "I'd like that and I don't see it as stalkerish at all." he added with a playful grin.

"Then it's settled then. As of today, I, Miki Hiyama, am your personal escort to school."

He and I laughed a little more at my stupid attempt at a joke but stopped when I felt him lightly nudge my shoulder.

"Sorry, but the cold is starting to get to me. Do you know anywhere we could stay at and warm up a bit? Oh and the name is Leon, by the way."

"Sure, there's this little shop right around the corner from you. We could get something hot to drink before leaving home. And pleased to meet you, Leon."

With that in mind, we walked away from the park, away from Miku's and Kaito's speechless looks. Maybe it really isn't so bad after all, I should take more walks in the morning.


	8. Jealousy with a hint of Revenge

"Oh wow! I wouldn't know what to do to live that down!" I couldn't help but giggle at his reddening face.

"Embarrasing, I know and even more so now that I've told a random stranger about it." he admitted while stirring his coffee with an index finger.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, so I'm considered strange now?"

"Only a tad bit. But I have to admit, it is what makes you that more interesting."

A grin broke out on my face as I took a long sip of my hot cocoa. This is actually the fifth time we've gone out to the same little cafe we came to the day he first arrived to Sapporo. No, not out as in a "date", I mean really, would you automatically ask out this random person to be your boyfriend/girlfriend? It's just too darn weird. Even though this is the fifth, he still likes to joke around that every time we hang out, it's almost like we're meeting each other again for the first time.

Strange, I know, but I sort of like that. I've learned a lot about him and he's learned a lot about me as well. Or at least I'm pretty sure we should, we already spend about two hours a day in here. And let's not forget school.

It was sorta weird waiting for him at the entrance of his neighborhood on his first day to school. I felt kind of self-conscious on how I looked so I did try to keep my hair tangle-free and smoothed out my uniform. I think I waited for him for about. . . ten minutes or so until he finally came out. He looked relieved to see me, I'm pretty sure he thought that I'd forget. Oh come on, I don't seem like an unreliable person to you. . . Do I? ? Never mind, scratch that.

" 'Ood morning Miki-chan!"

" . . . 'Ood?"

"Oh, uh, s-sorry. I have a habit of forgetting the 'g'. . ."

His ears turned a little pink and I couldn't help but smile. "No need to fret about it, I like it. Unique, never heard anybody else pronounce it like that." I said reassuringly.

With that being said, he calmed down a bit, but the color was still on his ears and spread to his cheeks as he tried to avoid my gaze. "We best be going, it's getting late- "

"Hurry it up, Leon! I can't wait for you forever, you know!"

His head snapped up as he finally noticed that I was at least a foot or so away from him before he decided to run after me. I couldn't stop the smile coming on my face, I almost forgot how funny it was to tease people. Well, I could always do that to Piko, but he usually throws a huge hissy fit when it's over, and it's never pretty.

When he finally caught up to me, he opened his mouth to protest until I cut him off. "You did say we were going to be late. I had to do something to get your attention," I teased.

He frowned. "There are other ways to get it."

"But I like that method better. Besides, what other way could I have used?"

"Your hair for starters."

"My hair?" I knew that the look of my face had to be amusing because he only smiled and walked closer to me and nodded.

"That's right. Your hair is incredibly long, I think it'd look nicer if you tied it up."

"But what does that have anything to do with getting your attention?"

"If you had tied it up, that would've prompted me to rush on over and compliment you. And if I complimented you on how beautiful you look then I'm certain others would, too."

I felt my face burn up from everything that he was saying. He was just making small talk, it wasn't like he meant any of that. And I stuck to that. Until he slipped a hair tie from off of his wrist and Lordy he began to pull my hair back and tied it up.

"There! Now we've got a better look at your face. Why do you keep your hair down? You look nicer this way."

Out of nothing more than pure annoyance, I slapped his arm and angrily stalked away. "Don't tease me like that!"

My breath was caught in my throat, the action felt familiar and brought up old memories. But I didn't dwell onto that fact for long. I heard him laughing and running up to catch up to me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think that you'd react that way. I guess I mistook you as the type of girl who liked receiving compliments."

I snorted. "Feh, I'm not like Miku."

He raised a curious brow. "Miku? As in Miku Hatsune?"

I nodded. "Yeah, that's the one. She's the self-proclaimed Princess of the school."

He looked puzzled. "What's wrong with her? Most people would be elated to have a celebrity attend their school."

"Yeah, if you liked them."

"Don't you like her?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because she's a stubborn, spoiled, stuck-up, bitchy little attention-seeking whore-"

"I'm sensing a negative vibe going on here from a small redhead."

I laughed. I never said any of those things outright, not even in front of Piko, Gumi or Lily. But I did it anyway to him. What if I offended him? For all I know, he could be a Miku fanboy and at any second, he'd a fit and march on forward, leaving me to gaze at his receding figure.

But hey, I've been wrong before. PLENTY of times.

"Ah, how charming. She sounds just as lovely as she holds herself at her concerts. Well, I suspected as such. Most can't hold their masks over their faces forever. Did you do or say anything in particular to have her make you think like that?"

"She tried to butcher the word 'surprised' one day in English and I corrected her. Brat thought if she could pin down the fact that I'm English, it'd make me look like the jerk until I stated that I was too young to even have an advanced grasp of it. I mean, I was only four and my parents and I rarely speak it at home anymore. School's all I got. Didn't I tell you that before?"

He nodded. "I see. So she's arrogant?" he asked with a playful smile.

I giggled. "Yeah, to the extreme. I feel bad for the people who hang out with her. They only do it because she's famous and whatever. But she treats them like garbage. I hope they see that soon and just drop her like she's made most of my friends drop me."

He looked confused. "Dropped you? What do you mean by that?"

I sighed and tucked behind a strand of loose hair that slipped out of the tie. "When she came, the people I used to call my 'friends', left me because I didn't like her. Even my own best friend decided that an airhead makes a better conversationalist than the one person who's known him his whole life. Well, since we were four, but that still counts."

I kept a steady gaze in front of me, trying my best to contain my emotions. It's been almost four years and I _still_ have trouble talking about it. Pathetic, right?

". . .I'm sorry."

A small gasp escaped me, despite my best efforts to hold it in. It came out shaky, shallow. _Weak_. And in front of the new guy no less. I forced a smile.

"Don't be. I'm used to it." _Lies_. "Things happen."

He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off. "Hey! Look, we're here." I said, motioning to the grand building in front of us. He looked pleased by it and knew better than to try and bring it up again so he let it go.

"So where's your first class?"

He looked over the list until he finally found what he needed. "Room 4-A; Chemistry with Stockley-sensei."

xXx

I was so boooooored in math. Which wasn't anything new, of course, but after dropping Leon off at his class, I remembered the pain of being alone, of having nobody to talk to in math. And worse still was the fact that we had to choose a partner for a written paper assignment of famous mathematicians and that we had to type it out with them after doing research. Guess who didn't have a partner? That's right, you're lookin' at her. But it's cool, I always do better working on my own, I hate pack mules.

Well, I've always been good at ignoring people, but um. . . I guess I was getting tired of being ignored for so l ong. I mean, well, I tried not to let it bother me, but I guess I'm not as "thick-skinned" as I always believed myself to be. But hey, I'm only human.

And I at least I didn't have anybody to argue with over who to choose, if I liked one, it stuck. I didn't have to fight for anything. I was the Captain of my own ship. A Captain with nobody flitting in and out, causing any ruckus, helping me kill time. . .

. . . I need a cat. Oh great, I can see it all now- I shall become a cat lady only because it was for the sole purpose that I crazed a companion back in my Senior year. For a math project. FML.

I.

Am.

PATHETIC.

Cue the desk, facepalm, whatever you wanna call it, but my face made contact with my desk with a bang. And it hurt. I think I wanted to cry. Maybe even throw the laptop at the wall, watch it burst it into flames, feed it with the teachers dying, desk plant. Fry a fuckin' marshmallow over it.

. . .That's it, I'm insane because even I've lost myself in that explanation. And I have got to stop staring at my laptop like as if though I do wanna kill it, people are giving me some pretty weird looks. Moving on to what happened next. . .

xXx

English was next and it was sort of a relief.

Sort of.

Kaito was still on the other side of the room, but at least Miku wasn't in here, so I couldn't complain. At least I get to see him without having somebody breathing down my neck, wanted to tear me apart and pluck out my nails one by one. . . Lily convinced me to watch all five of the _Saw_ movies. Not bad. Except I couldn't sleep for days. Eh, could've been worse than amatuer brain surgery.

Anyways, I slipped my blazer off of my shoulders and made a makeshift pillow and buried my face in it. I was so not in the mood for English, not after what had happened in math. Piko noticed right away that I went into my I-don't-give-a-shit mode and decided that it was best not to piss me off today.

Just as I was beginning to doze off and slip into the dream realm, I heard the sweetest voice in the history of Miki's Pathetic Life.

"Excuse me, but is this Cul-sensei's classroom? For English?"

I swear, my derp hair must've stuck up straight, because I was up and standing in my seat, wanting to get a good look to confirm that it really was who I was praying for.

I must have been a very good girl lately because at that moment I was able to see a flash of blonde, followed by a brilliant pair of jade green eyes.

It was too good to be true, it just had to be. While I was still lost in my own sea of thoughts, I heard that lovely accent that I've come to adore address me.

"Is that really you? Fancy meeting you here, Miki."

I tried to act nonchalant about it, but my body betrayed me as the corners of lips started to twitch, begging me to cave in and smile. I am so weak-willed, I broke out into a grin and giggled.

"Nice to see you again, too, Leon."

Cul-sensei looked a little confused. Okay, I wouldn't say "little" or "confused", more like. . . utterly baffled, I should say?

"You know each other, already?"

As much as I wanted to scowl at her for having that tone, I forced the grin to stick on my face a bit longer and nodded my head. He looked a little confused as well, but he ignored it and looked at her. "Yes we do, since yesterday actually. Why is that so surprising?"

She frantically shook her head. "N-no reason, it's nothing. . ." She turned around in a huff and started mumbling under her breath. Well, she didn't leave fast enough because I managed to catch a few things.

"Hmph, he's lucky that she didn't abuse him like with Hatsune. Why couldn't she be more civilized and proper, like Miku?"

Well, Cul-sensei, I can't be more like Miku because Miku is a giggling little skank who gets around more than a hula-hoop.

I'm still bitter, I know. And that's it not a good thing to say those kinds of things about people behind their backs, but really, what _haven't_ you heard from me by now?

Leon made himself comfortable in the seat behind me, right next to Piko. He gave him a small smile and a wave. "Hello! I'm Leon-"

"I know, Miki called you that already."

Leon and I stared at Piko. I was surprised by the sudden sharp edge in his voice. He didn't sound like the Piko I know. Why was he acting so strange?

Leon shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but he didn't stay like that for long because then Cul-sensei called him up to introduce himself to the rest of us. During the time he was up there, Piko flicked a note that got caught in the hook of my ahoge. With a slight frown, I slipped it out and saw his message that he messily scrawled.

_I don't trust him._

Now my frown deepened. I quickly wrote down my response before tossing it back to him.

_Why not?_

He didn't take that long because I soon found the note right on my lap. I carefully opened it up and read the contents.

_There's something off about him. Don't ask; I just know it._

Okay, this had gone far enough.

_There is nothing wrong with him. He's a perfect gentleman, he's nothing like Kaito. If you wanted to warn me about who to hang out with and who not to, you should've done it when we were still friends, along with Dell and the others._

I threw it back and crossed my arms. I looked up at Leon's smiling face. There couldn't be anything wrong with him, nothing at all. He didn't act like a jerk nor did he act anything near one. He's polite, well-mannered, a little shy and somewhat soft-spoken.

Like Kaito.

I don't know what compelled me to do so, but I looked over at his corner and saw his azure eyes glued onto me. I quickly averted my eyes, but I could still feel his boring into my body. I shifted a bit in my seat and tried to cover half of my face with my hair until I remembered that I still had it up. My fingers twitched to take it down, but Leon was the one who put it up and I didn't want to seem rude so I just ran my fingers through my hair and left it alone.

Once he came back to his seat, he smiled in my direction but carefully avoided Piko's venomous glare. I swear, he's overreacting about nothing. I can tell certain things about people I have good judgement. Kaito was just a fluke.

So I ignored him as well and passed notes to Leon all during class. He and I had our fair share of quiet giggles (or as quiet as we could get them to be) and left class with a sense of accomplishment. It was weird, we didn't know why, but we just felt like that.

I heard the echo of footsteps and I slightly turned my heads. I was expecting to see ivory hair but instead I caught a glimpse of azure. He was following us. I quickly turned around and walked a bit faster until I was by Leon's side. _What if he was being as paranoid as Piko?_ I couldn't help but wonder that. Soon enough, I could feel his presence right next to me. He opened his mouth to say something but I silenced him with a simple movement.

I slipped my hand into Leon's.

He automatically clamped his mouth shut and angrily stalked away, leaving a confused and blushing Leon, and a giddy, triumphant little redhead.

* * *

><p>AN:

I don't know why, but I'm kind of enjoying writing a beachy Miki. I mean, they don't have official personalities so I'm having fun making her whatever I want her to be. Except she's not who I want her to be, but for now, she's jerk in this Fic. XD

Have any of you tried that trick? The one with Miki holding Leon's hand just to get Kaito jealous? I haven't done that, most of what Miki has done is different from me. But my friends are such great pieces of walking inspiration, I really do have to thank them one day! XD

So how was it? I tried to make it a little longer, but ehh. . . It still felt kinda short. :/

Any issues with my writing? I mean, I know it doesn't flow very well because Miki's a bit of a scatter brain and she's really random with her thoughts, I can't wait to do Kaito because he at least has some order in his head. ^^"


	9. Unfortunate Encounters

A/N:

I'll be updating a bit slower on this story because I have to do JML, 100 DWTV, SBLU, and I'm attempting to work on OC again. But I'll do my best to keep it rolling. ^^

Thank you all who've read it to this point! :D

* * *

><p>I shivered and did my best to keep my fingers warm by rubbing my palms together. I'd just finished shopping and I was waiting for Leon right outside this men's department store where he was getting something to buy for his friend who lives all the way in America. I wonder how he'd even know somebody from all the way over there? But eh, I never asked since I wasn't really that interested. I just can't believe that I was waiting on a bench right outside of the store, alone and freezing my poor, scrawny limbs out in the late December winds. My phone was dead so I couldn't text him and berate him for keeping a lady waiting.<p>

Right when I was about to give up and walk out on him, I heard the familiar chime of the bell as the door was pushed open, signaling that somebody was either entering or leaving the store. I looked up and sure enough, there he was with that huge grin on his face. It didn't stay up there for long as it slowly fell down into a small frown. Even though my mouth was covered by my muffler, my eyes spoke volumes, that I'm sure of it.

In his attempt to retain as much of his pride that was left, he gave me a sheepish grin and sat down next to me on the empty seat of the bench and tried his best to look apologetic about his error. I automatically averted my eyes and stared at the other direction with a scowl on my face. I accidently scared a couple as they walked by, hand and hand, and jumped when they saw my "evil" glare directed at them. They quickened their pace a bit until they were ahead of me and I'm pretty sure they thought I wouldn't hear them because then they started talking about what the hell could've been my problem or something like that.

He could tell that I was incredibly displeased with him because I heard him shuffle his feet a bit. I made it crystal clear within the first week we met that I don't have patience and that I'm an incredibly difficult person to please. For the most part, I should be grateful that he understood, but I don't tolerate screw-ups that often. . . Kaito was an exception, leave him out of this. What? You weren't thinking about him then? You were? Make up your damn mind, I don't like playing those kind of games! Okay fine, I'll quiet down a bit since you "politely" asked. . .

Well, Leon got up and shifted the weight of the bags before looking at me. "I'm sorry to have made you wait. It's just really, really difficult finding the right size for Al, most of them in that store are so tiny compared to him! I didn't mean for it to take so long, I had to give him a quick call to ask for his measurements so that I could have it custom made and I had to lie about my reason but I'm sure-"

I cut him off and snapped at him. "I didn't come here to listen to your life story, okay? I came here because you weren't at the fountain like we'd agree upon. I've beeen finished with my shopping _twenty minutes_ ago. You know I don't like to be kept waiting, right?"

There he goes with that docile look on his face. Whenever he had those moments, it reminded me to try and ask Piko again on why he disliked him so. Leon looked too. . . innocent. He could do no wrong in my eyes.

But hey, Piko complains even more than most mother in-laws do, so I guess it was alright. . . Except that he's a boy, but I won't be getting onto that subject. The same could be said about me. For the longest time, people believed that Ritsu Namine and I were the same person. The problem? He, Ritsu, loved to cross dress. That's right, _he_. His hair is a shade darker than mine, but his voice is incredibly feminine, including his actions. He's so darn good at it that he's fooled countless boys into going out with him. I'm not entirely sure if he's actually homosexual or that he likes to do it for kicks. Hey, it's his choice, not mine. I get enough crap for acting more like a boy. I wear the guys uniform for crying out loud. Still do. Eh, I guess that's why we're called the Trap Trio at school. . . I'll rip your lips off your face if you keep smiling like that, I mean it.

Oops, got off topic there again. Well, after he stopped talking, he merely nodded and extended his hand to help me up. But being cold, tired, and hungry, I outright refused his friendly gesture and glared at him. My hands were stuffed inside of my pockets to try and conserve as much heat as I could. "I'm freezing my ass off and my hands could have frost bite for all I know thanks to you making me wait for so damn long. Now get your hand out of my face and take me to the cafe that's around the park to thaw out." I demanded.

Now, if you were some random passerbyer, you would automatically frown upon my attitude and mumble a few things to yourself, or if you're incredibly polite, silently think thoughts, such as "Who the hell does she think she is, ordering that poor guy around?" "What a bitch! Somebody better knock her down a few pegs and teach her some respect!" Eh, you know, the usual kind of things. But if you were from school, you'd hear me say those kinds of things to Leon on a daily basis. Unlike Kaito, who would shrink a bit and try to avoid my foul mouth, Leon welcomed it with a grin and would scoop me up in front of everbody. Bridal style.

There were moments where he'd give me a piggy back ride, but with my hands stuffed all the way down to the ends of the coat pockets, that didn't seem to be an option. He slipped one of his arms under my legs and kept the other arm to steady my back before he lifted me up like a sack of feathers. He'd always joke about my weight, saying that if I ate any less I'd be blown away by the wind. To add more emphasis on it, he'd hold my arm or wrap an arm around my shoulder whenver we felt the harsh winter winds slap us around, stealing our breathes and having them get caught in our throats. Even the slightest breeze he'd use that excuse.

People around us stared at the sight in awe. The girl who had rudely commanded the boy to take her away had her wishes fulfilled, while the boy had the biggest grin on his face as if to show off to the world that only he knew how to please her.

I know, I should've felt guilty for using him like that, but I couldn't help it. If the guy wanted to help and listen to his new best friend, then so be it. I wasn't going to say anything and stop him and it wasn't just because I ordered him to do it in the first place, mind you. It just played a small part.

It took him about twelve minutes to walk to the park and another six or seven to find the cafe. I couldn't blame him, there were just so many people around that area that weekend. Christmas isn't really a big thing in Japan unlike its Western counterparts, but I guess most people decided that year that maybe it should have a bit more attention because the stores and the little cafe we usually go to enjoy a mug of hot cocoa was _packed_. The moment he set foot, our eyes went wide with shock. More often than not, that little cafe would only have a few people decorating the tables. Today, however, all of them were full of people taking a break from shopping.

He and I kept shifting our gazes, trying to pinpoint an empty table. Luck wasn't on our side when we saw that there were none. He gave me an apologetic smile whereas I shrugged. "Oh well. We can come back tomorrow or something. Maybe we can just head on home now and-"

Just then, a waiter tapped Leon's shoulder and gave him a big smile. "Howdy do~ Lookin' for a table?"

We both blinked at his accent. It was japanese, we both knew that, but what's with the southern accent? Was he a hick or something like that? I know for a fact that I had never met somebody like that before and by the look on Leon's face, neither had he. But we ignored it as Leon slowly nodded his head.

"Err, yeah. A table for two, please. " he said as he lightly lifted my body up and I bounced a bit. I flung my arms around his neck. Even though it was just a small bounce, I felt like I was about to fly away. I had being so darn small. . .

"Ah~ For you and your girlfriend?"

At this, I knew without even looking at him that his face burned bright red because mine certainly did. The heat was intense that it traveled up to my usually pale cheeks, which I'm sure were now red, not just from the cold, but now from the embarrasment that had just happened to us. We both frantically shook our heads and started speaking gibberish, causing that damned waiter to chuckle.

"Sorry, couldn't hep mahself. There is a table over yonder but errr, it's already taken by one lovely couple. It still has space for two moar, ya'll wouldn't mind sharin', right?" He asked.

As if on cue, my stomach roared in agreement to his proposition and he smirked. "I'm taken that as a yes." he chuckled and motioned us to follow him.

We didn't really have much of a choice at the point (thank you stomach, you are just as impatient as the girl that you inhabit) and wordlessly followed him in. I ignored the questionable looks that the people gave to us because he was still carrying me and I could tell that it was easy for him to do the same. Towards the very end of the corridor, we went through the double doors and kept going until it was closer to the end of the small shop.

With a wave of his hand, he stood up straight and presented us our table. "Table for an extrah two, courtesay of yours truly~" he said in a sing song voice. I couldn't help but smile. Finally, some food and sugar!

Just as I was about to graciously thank our quirky waiter, something caught my eye. Well, somethings. Not articles of paper or clothes or even the food that the person behind us was eating. It was the _colors_.

Teal and Blue.

* * *

><p>XxX<p>

* * *

><p>We sat in silence for the longest time in my whole entire life. I've never held my tongue for this long, not even when I knew I was being annoying to the adults back at school, to my friends and occasionally to my parents if they were in a playful mood. I didn't know what to do. It was so. . . awkward.<p>

I kept my eyes glued to my hands, to my now cold soba noodles, and I'd absent-mindedly stir them around with my chopsticks. Leon would silently take a sip or two from his tea (we both didn't bother ordering hot cocoa this time), Kaito would stare out the window, avoiding everybody's gaze. Not Miku. I could feel her eyes bore through my skull since my face was bent and I had been the unfortunate one to have sit in front of her. When I finally couldn't take it anymore, I slowly raised my face, propped my chin on the open palm of my hand, and looked at her with a disinterested look in my eyes.

"Can I help you?"

"You certainly can by getting your ass out of that seat and go back through those doors!"

I rolled my eyes. "Sorry hime, no can do. Leon and I already had to wait for a long time and this was the only one with just enough extra seats to accomodate us."

Miku snapped her pretty head at Kaito. "I _told_ you we should've had this table reserved!" she snarled at him. He weakly nodded at her but when she looked away from him to continue to glare at me, he would look back down at his mochi cakes to avoid Miku's searing glare.

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Kaito was more oppressed and whipped with her than he ever was with me. But then again, why should I care? I did as much as I could to try and avoid Miku this whole time and look where that got me? Fate is out to get me because I know for a fact that Serindipity wouldn't be this harsh as a prankster. He would know that it would be considered taking it too far by letting Miku back into my life. So I'm assuming that his cousin, Fate, is nothing but a bitch with a dry sense of humor.

I yawned loudly to interrupt Miku's scolding and forced her to look at me. With a lazy grin, I pointed to her tiny green tea cake with my chopsticks. "Is that any good?" I asked while barely, just barely, moving the chopsticks up and down, indicating that I wasn't just talking about the cake, but about Miku as well. I discreetly looked toward Leon's and Kaito's direction and smirked.

Both of them looked like they were fighting back their chuckles whereas Miku fumed. She knew when she was insulted, besides the obvious one.

Her face turned a dark shade of red and her body began to tremble. She took in a series of deep breaths, trying to calm herself down but to no avail. "Y-you, you, you, you-"

"Me what~?" I teased, egging her on.

I managed to catch sight of Kaito furiously shaking his head, warning me that I better stop now while I was ahead. Silly Kai-Kai, he should know by now that I do what I want to do and I wanted to keep on teasing Miku. I like to make people blow up. And I was determined to rip that mask off of her pretty face.

I leaned back in my seat and crossed my arms. "Honestly, you would at least expect that Japan's most beloved Diva would at least be a bit more sensible."

She stopped fuming for a second and had a perplexed look on her face that read, "Okay, what the hell is she going on about this time?"

I went on. "I mean, really? Do you take us as a fool?"

She scolwed at me. "What're you talking about? Are you mental?"

Just as I was about to open my mouth to answer her, a malicious smirk graced her features. I slowly closed my mouth and knitted my brows together in confusion. Honestly, I was curious to know what she was going to say, so I stopped talking. Normally, I would have never done that and I would've went on with my little game that I used to put Kaito through. But I guess that was where I made my first mistake.

"Kaito told me about your little visit to the _therapist_, like what, two, three years ago? Just what was that all about~?" she purred.

I stiffened a bit in my seat. Even though Kaito and I weren't next door neighbors or anything, it didn't take long for the neighborhood to hear about my parent's marriage breaking down and that the strain of it caused their daughter to snap. Which isn't true in the very least. I didn't snap. They were just curious about the reasons on why I did certain things.

"That's none of your concern," I cooly replied,"so I suggest you don't try to worm your way into other people's business where you're not wanted." I said with finality.

Miku ignored my tone and started to play around with a loose strand of her hair. "Oh really? Well, since your family is friends with his-"

"Not for the past four years last time I checked." I growled.

She smirked and went on. "-that I only assumed that Kaito has every right to worry about his sick little friend."

**_"I am not sick!"_** I cried and banged my fists onto the table, causing the bowls and glasses to jump and jiggle a bit. I was furious. How dare she assumed that about me!

It was made pretty clear that my original plan to make Miku become flustered and admit to the public that she was nothing but a fake, backfired. Instead of her, I was the center of attention as all eyes were on me. Leon shifted uncomfortably in his seat but kept a steady gaze at my face.

Miku giggled in that falsetto tone of hers. "Miki-chan, you need to calm that huge ego of yours down. Do you have to act like such an attention-seeking little brat? Aren't we enough?" she pouted and lightly batted her eyelashes.

I just noticed just how thick her makeup was now that I was this close to her face. She looked like a clown. She doesn't deserve Kaito, she should be with that ridiculous American clown that advertises those heart attacks on a bun. Ramond McNomle, was it? I wasn't sure and it really didn't matter now that she was making me look like the fool in front of all of those people.

I got up and grabbed my coat with one hand and grabbed Leon's hand with the other. "Come on, we're leaving." I'm usually not the type to run away from a fight, but I knew that if I had stayed there any longer, Miku would be one pigtail short and would need to go face shopping when I was through.

Miku sneered. "Leaving so soon? Late for an appointment with your therapist? Late for your last meal at St. Michael's?"

That did it. Assuming that I lived in an asylum was the last straw. I didn't know what came over me. My hand was faster than my mind as it made contact with Miku's cheek, leaving a nice imprint on it.

She was too shocked to do much of anything while she looked up at me.

"Next time," I said, surprising myself by how calm I sounded compared to how I was just a few minutes ago, "pick on someone you're own size. I'm not going to let you insult me like that. I am not crazy, it was personal family matters. So unless you want me to go on and let your other cheek have a matching accessory, I suggest you learn your place." I warned and angrily stalked out of the cafe.

Leon and I never went back to that cafe ever again.

* * *

><p>AN:

I was listening to Cheezits Miki's version of "World is Mine" WIP before he took it down and it gave me the idea for the part where she and Leon were finished doing their Christmas shopping. Except Leon seemed more than happy to jump to an opportunity to make her happy, so eh. I suck at romance so try to bear with me, for I am unoriginal and all the like. =w="

For any of you with any advice/tips for romance, please PM or review and I will credit you if I use it! XD But this isn't a fluff, so don't expect it to be sort of sweet for long, I'm a bit better at making the characters sad and a bit dramatic. ^^"


	10. Painful Reminders

A/N:

I'm actually writing as I go along. Which is a HORRIBLE thing to do, but eh, it was an idea that popped into my little head many, many months ago that suddenly decided to remind me that it had yet to be uploaded. Very little thought, but I guess this is coming along. . . okay?

Eh, just comes to show you that you shouldn't really do these kinds of things as a spur of the moment, but then again, this is coming from a person who's seriously depressed now. . . Don't some of you just wish for the world to slow down for you, even just a little bit, so that you can either prevent or better something that will not/will happen to you and for those you care about? Just a thought. . .

And sorry for taking so long to update for those of you who read this, too many things coming up and not enough time to do anything that I usually like to do in my spare time. Gah, now to check up on some of those PMs that I've neglected to answer. (_ _|||)

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><p>Leon's family is very. . .eccentric, to say the least. But as if though I'm one to talk, I have a work-obsessed father and a mother who believes that cleaning closets is the miracle cure for just about everything in life. Seriously, I still get hammered over for needing to have my closet cleaned out. Even though I keep telling my mother that she can go on ahead and clean it for me, she refuses. She says, no, insists that I have to be the one to do it so I can feel it's "powers" work for me. It's of no wonder why people think I'm crazy, have they met my mother? Have you?<p>

Anyways, I'll stop bagging on my own mother and I'll go ahead and let you know how Leon's family might actually be well loved by my mother (bless her heart). He guided me to his apartment by keeping a steady grip on my hand until we reached close to the roof of the building. He let my hand go for a second so that he could pull out his lanyard and when he found the right key, he stuck it through the keyhole and gave it a few twists. Before he turned the knob, he looked back at me with a pair of worried eyes.

"Err, just a word of warning. . ." he started and looked down at his feet.

I raised an eyebrow and I couldn't help but slightly tilt my head to the side. A warning? What kind of warning? Was he secretly part of English royalty and his so-called family were actually some royal guards pretending to be related to him to protect him? And if he is, from what? Is there a bounty on his head? Maybe he was some kind of sexy (did I just say that? !) English spy and he was actually about to show me his secret hideout with all of his secret weapons and cool gadgets? Or, or, _OR_, maybe I befriended some kind of psychopath and he was about to add me in as his next addition of bodies that he nails to his wall or made skin lanterns or maybe use my skull as a candle holder— S-sorry, I read too many books. . .

Instead of voicing out my thoughts, I decided to bite. "Warning? Why?"

He smiled weakly. "They are, um, a bit strange. Try to ignore some of the things they say and do, please?"

Ha! So they must be some kind of spies then! Or maybe they're his minions who also share his messed up mind like seeking pleasure in defacing people. . . My thoughts were cut short when I heard a deep, almost masculine were it not the small, smooth touch of femininity voice.

_"Leon, darling~!"_

Said lad was tackled by a busty woman with a stylish black bob, dark red pants that hugged her slender legs and hips. She wore a small white blouse with a slight hint of ribbon-shaped designs adorning the collarbone that was topped off with a black leather coat. I heard the distinct sound of heels pitter pattering on the tiles as the woman was dancing in place and whisked Leon off of his feet and held him hostage in a bear hug.

I couldn't help but stare at this bizarre scene in front of me, blinking like an idiot. Okay, well, Leon did say that his family is a bit strange. . . Or maybe he ordered them to act this way. Which is to say, I am totally lost and couldn't help but bite my lower lip to keep from laughing at this mystery woman's outrageous display of affection to my good friend who, obviously, didn't share the woman's energy and excitement that was channeled through the bear hug.

In a muffled voice, I managed to hear him say, "Lola! Not in front of the girl. . ."

Almost immediately, the woman stopped dancing and swinging and kissing and hugging the life out of the poor lad but she still held on fast to him and stared at me with her dark, coal colored eyes. Funny, I thought that her eyes were a little intimidating at first, but like actual coals, they burned bright with some renewed source of passion as she dropped my friend and ran up to me and flung her arms over me to pull me into a tight embrace.

The woman, Lola?, started squeezing the breath out of me! I swear, if my face wasn't placed smack dabbed in an awkward area of a woman's anatomy, I would have bitten her. But because I'm as straight as an alley, I did no such thing and proceeded to having the air constricted out of my burning lungs. Okay, maybe things around here are a little bit strange, but come on, when haven't we encountered crazy, overly affectionate peoples in our lives? Am I right?

"Oh my gawd~ Is this the young Miki that you were talking about? What a lovely little creature! She's so much more beautiful than the way you describe her to me, why did you keep her hiding from me for so long?" she demanded with an accusing pout on her face.

Through the large masses that my face was unfortunately in, I could only hear him sigh and heard a slap. Did he faceplam himself? Anyways, she finally let me go and gave my back a hard _whack!_ Honestly, what is this woman's problem? ! First, she tries to suffocate me, then she tries to kill me by complimenting on just how pretty I am because I _hate_ it when people do that to me. It sounds like they want me to die from embarrassment! And then she even had the audacity to play with my hair!

Okay, I could be overly exaggerating a few things, but I'm a bit overly protected with a few of my things, my hair being one of them. After Ppoiyo accidentally stuck his gum in my hair (it was an accident because we were napping together at the time that it had happened. I know this because our mothers would always snap pictures at us and not once did they check his grubby mouth for that blasted wad), I've always hated somebody ruining my stuff. Well, I can only use that excuse against strangers, I don't hate Ppoiyo at all. Eh, whatever, I digress.

"Lola! Let her go, you're strangling her!"

"Awww, you're no fun. And you didn't even bother answering my question!"

I swear, you could almost hear the pout by the way she was talking and by the way she was acting. An eccentric bodyguard? Maybe her exaggerated display of friendliness was a guise to hide the fact that she was planning on killing me later? You know, I think it was mainly the cherry cola I had for lunch that day that was doing most of the thinking. What? I can't handle sugar and caffeine that well. Either way, she finally let me go and I dropped to the ground. Thank goodness I wear the boy's uniform or that would have been an awkward scene for all of us. Lola was nice enough to grab the front of my uniform and picked me up. Actually, she flinged me up. That sounds more accurate.

"Oh my-You weigh almost nothing! How much do you eat? Or are you an anorexic?"

Leon's face immediately flushed a dark shade of red and I'm sure mine did, too. Well, he must be embarrassed but so was I, as well as angry. I really am getting fed up with people always commenting on my weight, I already get that enough from my parents, other relatives, and friends. But I guess the worst had to be Kaito. He'd try to stuff me like a pig with ice cream (I don't really like the texture, too creamy and I don't like cold foods) because he'd worry that I'd wither away or something even worse would happen to me. I kind of miss that since I could tolerate him and that he really was concerned with my health. But coming from this random lady, yeah, you could say that my self-esteem plummeted to 10 SE points.

"L-Lola! That was completely uncalled for! Why the hell did you say that to her?"

Lola waved off his question with a dismissive hand. "Oh please, you can tell that she's underweight, it's as clear as day! You've always did like them small, but she's a little too much! . . . Or, too little I should say." she said with this annoying little smirk plastered on her face.

I swear, my eyebrow just twitched right now. . . Okay, that lady is pretty darn good at pissing me off, believe me when I say that. I mean, really? ! Seriously! That was uncalled for alright! It's not like I ASK to be this small! I mean, sure my mother is, well. . . Um. . . She's voluptuous and everything. . . My mother is shapely and can be loud and I'm. . . Well. . . Looking at Lola, she kind of resembles my mother, in a way, but she's much louder. And then when I look at myself. . . I'm. . . _tiny_, yeah, I know. I'm slim hipped, small. . . breasted, and I'm pretty stubborn and maybe just a bit loud. . . But wow, just wow Lady. Way to go.

"Lola, leave her alone. You don't have to be jealous of every girl Leon brings home."

I jumped, surprised by the new voice and turned around. A girl who looked about in her early twenties walked toward us with a pretty thick book her hands that was pressed against her chest. Her complexion was pale, really really pale. Almost like a milky color. She had long, ivory hair that reached down to her waist, dull blue eyes with these ridiculously big eye glasses resting on her nose. She wore this long white sweater that you could tell that it had to be at least two sizes too big for her. I could see that the sleeves went past her knuckles. She wore black skinny jeans and her black boots with the silver zippers on the side that went _clip clop_ on the tiles. Compared to Lola, she looked much more reserved with her calm (yet gloomy) exterior. I knew right away I would like her.

Lola pouted. "I do not get 'jealous' of all the girls that our baby brother brings home!" she cried defensively. If I wasn't looking at the other girl just now, I would've missed the faint smirk on her face. It was barely there, but if you squint hard enough, you could see that the edges of her mouth were up.

She softly chuckled and turned to look at me. "Don't mind her, she's just 'special'."

Lola narrowed her eyes. "I heard that."

"You were supposed to, you git." the girl countered. Lola flipped her off. The girl just rolled her eyes and waved it off. She turned away from Lola and looked at me, giving me a warm smile. "I'm Miriam, Leon's and Lola's cousin. You must be Miki Hiyama." She stuck her hand out and thrusted it in front of me. It wasn't everyday that I was greeted with a handshake, so it felt a little awkward. That and because I wanted to take my hand out, hers were freezing cold! She didn't seem to notice even after she stopped. "Leon talks a good bit about you."

"He does?" That was a little surprising, he and I knew each other for little more than a month. What could he possibly be able to talk about that involves me?

Miriam knowingly smiled at me. "Of course. All the time, non-stop. Don't you, Leon?"

It was then I remembered that he was still in the room. Miriam moved to the side a bit so that I could get a good look and I swear, Leon looked like he wanted to rip off his tie, go to the balcony outside, wrap the tie around the railing and then jump down. It must be pretty embarrassing having these two tease him like this. I mean, just how much about me do _they_ know?

"O-of course not! Miriam, when are you going to stop with those twisted games of yours?" Dear gawd, his face must have discovered an entirely new shade of red.

I could already tell that this was nothing new for them, but Miriam begged to differ. Her eyes grew wide at her cousin's accusation and covered her mouth with her hand in mock shock. "Games? What games? What're you talking about? I'm simply telling your pretty little friend here the truth~"

After that, Leon and Miriam were at war, using verbal banter as their main weapon of choice. I bit my lower lip to keep myself from giggling. It was actually pretty cute, to be honest. I guess that's how people saw me and Mikuo, then. He and I used to fight so much even after Dell accepted me into their little group. And I guess maybe that's why people thought that we'd end up together at some point in our lives. HA! Proves how little people really know me. But now, looking at those two arguing, I could finally see why some people thought that. I mean yes, they are cousins, but it was the thought of replacing them with myself and former friend that, surprisingly, made me feel nostalgic.

I heard Lola sigh in the background. "Okay you two, break it up, break it up. We don't want Rusty here thinking that we're a bunch of loons."

_Too late for that_, I thought. Oh come on, you're thinking the same thing, too. I'm trying to be honest with you, you know. But have you ever met anybody like that in your life? Oh, hold that thought. I need to finish first, I've got some things to do later. How about the next time we meet? No, I'm not finished yet, so don't start looking away. Well, I'm wasting my time and your time so let's get back to this.

Miriam and Leon stopped almost instantly at Lola's request. Miriam shrugged and gracefully walked away to a different room because I heard a door close and a chain that scratched against the wood.

When I turned to look at Leon, his face was a little flushed from the argument with his cousin and rubbed his eyes. Poor guy, he reminds me of Dell after he spent two hours tutoring Mikuo and after all that work, he _still_ doesn't get it. It was just one of those moments that I was reminded why Dell is known for his temper and loose tongue. But mainly for his loose tongue.

About a minute or so later, Leon turned to look at me. "Err, Miki? I'm sorry. . . For the way we're acting."

I smiled. Who wouldn't? "That's okay, I understand. I don't mind, really, you guys act like some of my old friends from school." I was going to say more, but Lola jumped in and wrapped the two of us up in her signature bear hug and grinned.

"Hey, I've got an idea!"

Leon rolled his eyes. "What is it this time, Lola?"

She let us go and looked at Leon with mirthful eyes. "Why don't you cook your little 'girlfriend' something to eat~?"

"For the last time, she is NOT my girlfri—"

Apparently, Leon isn't allowed to finish that sentence because before he and I knew it, Lola had him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him to what I'm pretty sure is the kitchen.

Right when Lola's hand wrapped around the door knob, she turned around to look at me and smiled. "The remote's on the coffee table, you can watch the telly while Leon and I fix you some dinner." And with that said, she rushed through the door and slammed it shut. I even heard the scraping of locks.

Now then, you could imagine how I felt being alone in a room. And I felt like I was being held hostage. Eh, well, nothing to do but watch the telly then. . .

xXx

Holy hell, dinner was amazing! The one thing I knew that I completely forgotten about home was the food. Unless you've seen of Iggy from Hetalia, you'd think that English food is terrible (how the heck did he kill his tastebuds?) but that was nothing like the food he makes! The one thing that stood out the most (besides the roast beef that I keep wondering how they managed to get and the quince cheese) had to be the lamb. Well, I'm sure it would have been even tastier if I wasn't reminded of a certain somebody. . .

Miriam was the first to speak. "So, Miki was it?"

I nodded.

"How long have you lived in Sapporo? Leon told us that you're actually English like us. Though, you seemed to have a weak accent though."

"I came here when I was about four. My father works for a company and they promoted him. So he had to move since it was at a different location."

"Really? What's his job?"

"He's actually a therapist. He teaches in his spare time to some of the students in my neighborhood and is a professor and works part-time in a college in Osaka."

Yeah, I think I forgot to mention that even my own father is a therapist, and a famed one at that. But he was so busy tending to other people's needs that he thought that I would have virtually no issues since my mother studied to be one as well. Which she did stay as one for a good amount of years before she settled to be a florist, which was the job that she had at the time. She loved it.

That bit interested her. "All the way in Osaka? I heard that the people over there are bit more. . . Up there than the rest of Japan."

I cringed. I didn't really know how to respond to that. A bit more? Well, I've honestly never visited over there and I have heard the people there are a bit more different. They're just. . . louder, I suppose? But for some strange reason, I was getting the feeling that she was somehow trying to hint at something else. The reason for my father going there, perhaps?

"And what's that suppose to mean, Lola?" Leon asked.

I started fiddling around with the potatoes. I didn't want an argument to come out of it because of me. Miriam is a saint, however.

"Drop it you two. Can't we enjoy having a dinner without you two going at each other's throats? What do you think of the lamb shanks, Miki?"

I stared down at my plate. I haven't even touched them yet. "I haven't tried them yet. But I will, I promise. It looks delicious. Thank you for inviting me over." I looked up at Lola and at Leon when I said that and smiled at them. So far, the meal was really good. Even though I passed on the black pudding, I never was a fan of eating it. I'm sure of it.

Lola actually smiled at me. "Think nothing of it. We always do this for all of Leo's friends. Do you have any other friends around here, Miki?"

The piece of lamb was so close to my mouth when she asked me that question. "Err, yes. I have four."

Miriam looked a little surprised. "Just four? That's funny."

"Funny? How so?" I asked. Why was it funny that I only had four?

"Because you look like the type of gal who'd be able to make friends with everybody. You've got such a kind face. Why the small group?"

Leon shifted a bit in his seat. "She likes to keep herself surrounded by close-nit friends, that's all. Not everybody is who you think they are, you know."

Lola looked a little miffed by that. "Well excuse me, Leon. Maybe it could be because of your snarky attitude that repels any potential friends for—"

"Do I have to do something drastic to get you two to shut up?" Miriam's soft voice sounded a little sharp as she glared at them. Leon and Lola grudgingly complied with Miriam's demand and continued eating again. Miriam huffed a bit before took a glance at my plate. "You're a picky eater." she pointed out. Her tone came out as harsh, but after having to be the peacekeeper for most of the meal, I let it slide.

"I'm sorry." What else was there to say?

"You see? It's no wonder she's so thin. No matter, we'll fatten her up as long as she and Leo are 'friends'." Lola happily chirped.

I must be a little paranoid for thinking out of the box with that statement, but eh, I was actually wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. I didn't really want to be there for much longer, even though they weren't really that bad. Maybe because whenever people start talking about that touchy subject, I get a bit defensive and spiteful. So I bit my tongue to keep me from saying anything to the two girls.

Miriam sucked in her cheeks and let the air out slowly. She looked sorry for her earlier comment. "Well, enough about that aspect of her. Miki, what're your friends like?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Well, Piko is my closest friend and he's my cousin. He's part German from his mother's side and Japanese from his father's. We're related through his mother because her brother is married to my Uncle Luki."

Lola had to do a double take. "Your uncle is—"

"Lola," Miriam said with a warning glare. I smiled." Oh, it's okay. And yes, that's how it is with them. But I think nothing of it. I like having two uncles, even though their personalities on the opposite ends of the spectrum, they get along quite well. And they're good people, too, I'm sure you'd love them." I said reassuringly. It's true. And honestly, I've been curious about how that works exactly. I've always wanted to ask them what it felt like to love someone that was of the same sex as yourself, but whenever they came over I would always lose my nerve. And I guess it's because of them I don't shy away from those yaoi novels that Gumi, _Gumi!_, sometimes hides in her bag. She's been _dying_ to meet them.

And Lola's smirk had me on edge. "So they're lovers? Are you into all of that, what do they call it? Yaoi, was it?"

I felt my face burn and my heart race. "Yaoi is the love between two males, so yes, you're right. And no, I don't like yaoi just because of them." _Liar. And I get freebies._

She raised a questionable brow. "Oh really now? Well, you wouldn't mind—"

"How did this discussion change from talking about her friends to questioning her tastes in sexual orientations?" Leave it to Miriam to be my savior. Again. Is there any more of a reason why I should love her even more? "And besides, Leon looks like he wants to crawl under the table and die."

"I think there's an even more detailed description, but that sums it up." Leon mumbled. If he wasn't sitting right next to me, I wouldn't have heard it.

Lola rolled her eyes and sighed with a dramatic wave of her hand. "Fine, fine, fine. Well, what are the other three friends of yours?" she asked, clearly miffed about the switch of topics.

"I'm friends with these two fraternal twin sisters named Gumi and Lily. They're very nice. Well, Gumi's a sweetheart and Lily's a little on the rebellious side. And then there's Leon."

Leon looked up from his dish and looked at me. "I've been meaning to ask you something. Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." I couldn't help but tease him as I was cutting up the lamb. I could almost hear Miriam's smirk and I realized that Leon was actually quiet. "Shoot." He took his chance.

"Who's the tall fellow with the dark blue hair and eyes that follows you around?"

My heart stopped and my hands went cold. I think even the blood was drained from my face.

Lola must've mistaken my look for one that meant I was horrified. "Is he some kind of stalker? Is that school even safe then if creepers like him stalk pretty girls like you? What a leche—"

"Don't you dare talk about him like that!" I snapped. Everyone abruptly stopped eating. Lola looked like I had just slapped her but bit down on her lower lip to keep from saying anything else. Miriam was silent but I could tell that she wanted to pry and ask for me. Leon looked sorry he ever asked.

I took in a shaky breath. "I-I mean, he's not like that. He's not like that at all. Um, he's just. . . Well, he was a close friend of mine. . . A very close friend of mine, actually. Did you say that he 'stalks' me? Since when?"

It took Leon a second or two to understand that I was talking to him. "Well, ever since I came to school. Well, Gumi says even before that, too."

"Even Gumi knew?"

"She thought you did, too. So she never said anything because she thought it didn't seem to bother you or anything. He just looks at you a lot in our English class together and whenever I see you passing by in the halls, he looks like he's trying to keep you in his gaze. And you said that he was a close friend of yours. What happened?"

Too many things to know, too many things that I learned. He still looks at me? Was I really just that narrow minded that I actually looked like I stopped caring about him? Oh dear gawd, that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach accompanied with shallow breathing. . . I could feel a panic attack coming.

Miriam quickly got up from her seat and ran to my side. "Hey, hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay. You don't have to say anything. Leon, you should know better than to do that!" While Miriam was busy scolding him, I could feel the stinging hot tears well up in my eyes. I bit my lower lip and looked down at my plate. _Not another spontaneous crying jag_, I worried. This wasn't the first time that I've cried when I was reminded of Kaito, I was just really, really good at hiding. I angrily stabbed the lamb and bit into it hard, but it was soft and barely needed any chewing. The sweet, spicy ginger tang against the sharp cumin spread from that one bite. It actually helped me calm down a bit.

"The lamb is perfect," I managed to say, surprised that my voice didn't waver. "Falls right off the bone."

The three of them looked at me. "Uh yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Lola replied and looked at hers. "I'm surprised, too. This is just from the market. But it's good, isn't it? Oh, and Miki?"

"Yes?" I asked and looked up from my plate. I didn't realize that I was already halfway finished with my dinner and I didn't feel full. Not at all.

"You should cut your hair. Short. You have gamine energy. Has anybody told you that?"

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><p>AN:

Bleah, mainly about Leon's family. What do you think of them? I may or may not have them more involved with Miki, but I'll see about that.

So how is it so far? Decent? Horrible? Confusing? Dear-gawd-why-the-hell-are-you-still-writing-this?

Reviews are appreciated. ^^


	11. Lost

A/N:

Onwards to Chapter 11~

I wonder how long the second part should be. . . ?

. . . I'm addicted to Lon's and Soraru's cover of Rin's and Len's song Remote Control. Epic NND duet. They're definitely my new favorite singers~ :3 I have no idea just how many times I've replayed it on Youtube and on my mp3, I just can't stop listening to them. XD

h t t p : / / w w w . y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = M P U h j c q f e q w & f e a t u r e = c o l i k e

Of course, take away the spaces. ouo

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><p>I should have known something was up when Rin Kagamine was being sweet to me. She's the twin tailed beast's right hand (wo)man. Her little blonde imp. You would have thought that I knew better, especially since it was perfectly avoidable. Sadly, I'm horribly ashamed of myself. . . Still am, even after it's been five years ago. . . Of course, with that curious look in your eye, you want to know what had happened, don't you? You must love listening to me spill my heart's deepest troubles and desires. Well, I wouldn't say desires, not yet, I should say. So, you are just an "acquaintance", if that. It must be a treat, so I'll keep giving you more since you're behaving so well and have decided to stay here and listen to my pointless drabbles.<p>

It was a Thursday, nearly two weeks after I had dinner with Leon's family, exactly a week before Christmas was coming. Did I neglect to mention that my parents thought that it would have been best for me to not go to school? When Leon and I came back from the cafe that day, the day I let Miku know the extent of my anger, they told me that they were going to be busy and that they felt safer if I stayed at home. That's why it was about two weeks after the dinner instead of one. I wonder why they forced me to stay? Had they heard of what I had done and thought that I needed to stay home to cool off? That couldn't have been it since I was forced to stay home for a week. I was also told not to pick up the phone to answer calls or actually send out calls unless it was from them and _only_ them. I had never felt more confused in my life , but I stayed quiet when they explained the details of what was necessary for me to follow. Just like the patient daughter that they raised me to be. Well, I digress, yet again. . .

Leon texted me earlier that morning saying that he came down with something so I was alone, staring at the clothing inside the same men's department Leon had bought his friend's gift, fogging up the cold glass with my hot breath that separated me from the items. I was debating on whether or not I should buy him a gift. I may have stopped speaking to him, but I never stopped gifting him. I regretted not doing so the first year of our separation and I nearly killed myself for it. I absentmindedly traced little circles on the glass. I would have completely forgotten that I had to go to school and I would have stayed there all morning, even after the tips of my fingers would turn blue from the cold, were it not the gently tapping on my shoulder.

I turned around and there she was: the fair-haired monstrosity. However, she betrayed that horrid image in my head when she smiled, no, _beamed_ at me. Of course, I was on edge and I felt myself go rigid at her touch. She didn't seem to notice, or maybe she did and just didn't care, when she spoke up,"Mornin' Kiki~!"

I froze. "Kiki" was an old nickname that Kaito had given to me, among many others. I shuddered. Did he talk about me behind my back? I don't recall ever telling anyone in my group anything like that. Or it could be because they never ask, unless you count Leon who seemed a little too curious about him. . .

Rin tilted her head in confusion. "What is it? Are you okay? You look kinda. . . pale. Uh, -er. Paler."

I took in a shaky breath and shook my head. "Nothing. Just cold, that's all." I stuffed my hands into my pockets. "What are you doing? You're normally in school at this time."

"I woke up late this morning. Len-Len was being a meanie by leaving me behind. Can you believe the nerve of that guy?" she asked, looking genuinely baffled as to why her double would do such a thing.

Well, double by looks, not by personality. Where Rin is spiteful, loud, arrogant, crude, hyper, and physically strong, Len is the complete opposite of her. He's kind, soft-spoken, intelligent, modest, and meek. He's even Kaito's closest male friend. Very close to the point rumors began to fly around questioning their friendship and sexuality. I didn't mind if Len went that way, but it always bothered me that somebody would say that about Kai-Kai. I guess the thought of it made me uncomfortable, picturing him being intimate with someone of his own gender when really, it was his choice. Normally, I would have voiced my opinion, but I never did since I just brushed them aside. With Len's feminine appearance, you wouldn't think twice if their relationship was about them both being male. In any case, the rumors did die down. And I will only thank Miku for that, only that.

I decided to humor Rin and mimicked her shocked expression. "He did? What a jerk! How could he do that to you?"

I must have played my part right because her expression lightened up and eagerly nodded. "That's what I'm saying! He thinks just because he's got so many girls at school drooling all over him, he'd fool you into thinking he's some kind of king or something! Oh my gosh, let me tell you what that little Shota did last week—"

Selective hearing is your best friend, sometimes. I heard bits and pieces of Rin's monologue, which I'm sure she didn't notice and care, until we walked each other all the way to school. She finally decided to shut up when she saw the steps and bounced on top of them, making her enormous white bow jump up and down. Which reminded me of something.

"Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"Where'd you get the bow? That's new, I've never seen you wear it before."

"Oh! Miku-nee gave it to me as a gift. She said I'd look even cuter if I pull my bangs away, too." she gushed. "What do you think?"

It wasn't until she mentioned that bit that I noticed she did indeed have white pins in her hair. It's a wonder I managed to miss that.

"I like it. You do look nicer with your hair out of your eyes. " I walked up the steps and passed her. "Thanks for walking with me."

"No problem Mii-chan~ Thanks for letting me!" She opened the door for me.

During the whole walk, I kept asking myself why she would do this and I still hadn't come up with an answer. Well, I came up with a few, but I didn't even know Rin other than her name and whatever little tidbit Len said about her. And from the way she rages to people who piss her off in the hallways. Even though she's acting like a sweetheart to me, then, I found it strange how it just magically came to be. There had to be something up.

"You didn't have to do that." I told her, shrugging towards her hand that kept the door opened. I intended to stall her. Rin's also known for her short temper. Little Miss Time-bomb.

"Why not? I felt like opening it up as my way for saying thanks~" she lulled and giggled.

"I have two hands and I was ahead of you. You should have let me do it as my way of thanking you for gracing me with your presence." I pressed on.

She looked like she would have nothing of that as she waved a dismissive hand. "Psssh, oh stop it~! Come on, I insist." She said, her cheeks had turned a light shade of pink. I couldn't tell if it was from the cold, from embarrassment, or from anger.

"You're in class 7-C, aren't you? Isn't that on the second story? You have only two minutes left before the late bell rings."

She visibly tensed up. "Then don't keep me waiting. Come on, let's both go inside. And I insist you go in, _first_." she stressed.

I shrugged. "No thanks. I just remembered that my first class is all the way in the back. I use the back door to get in since it's easier and quicker."

Just as I had turned to leave, I felt something sharp go through my shoulder and turned around to see Rin's long, perfectly manicured gold nails dig their way through the fabric.

"Dammit! Why the hell are you so freakin' difficult? I thought it was weird that Miku makes such a big fuss about you, but I can see why she does, now." she snapped.

Instead of slapping either her face or her hand, I decided to try and stall her as long as I could. "Oh? The lovely Miku Hatsune actually talks about me? Oh my gosh! I feel so honored~!" I squealed in mock delight.

I really should have ran ahead of her when I had the chance. It didn't look good for me when she straightened up and tried to even out the height difference between us. "Iroha! Mizki! Come here!"

I suddenly felt a pair of hands grab mine and harshly pull them back behind me while another set pushed down onto my forehead and knocked me down the steps. Just where did they come from? I tried to tilt my head back to see who was handling what until it was shoved back down. Guess I'd have to wait then.

"Come on, we've got to hurry before anybody sees us! Let's go!"

Rin shooed us away and I was force to backpedal my way to the same path we came. Walking backwards without being able to turn your head and without swinging your arms to keep you balanced was just a tad bit uncomfortable. You should try it sometime. But I don't really recommend it.

"What are you three going to do? Be one of those dirty, little pawns of the 'Queen' and try to kill me off at the park like in those movies? Is that it?" I couldn't help but try to be a little sarcastic with them. Even though my heart felt like it was trying to leap out of my throat, I felt like I had to at least put up a facade to make them think that I wasn't afraid.

You know, I wonder what's worst: Actually admitting that you're afraid, or putting up a ruse to try and hide your fear? The way I saw it, if I had admitted that they were scaring me, then maybe they'd make fun of me and I _hate_ that. However, if I tried to act tough, they might get even angrier with me and they might try to do even more damage to me. So, I guess I have to question myself now. . . Did I value my pride more than my well-being? Well? You tell me. Did I? . . . Actually, I don't want to hear it. I want to finish this up as soon as possible, I have somewhere to go to.

I wished I knew where exactly they were taking me, but Rin had enough of me talking and bound my mouth with a gag and blinded me with her bow. "Miku could always get me another one. She'll understand why I had to burn it."

. . . Can somebody say bi— Nevermind, this happened five years ago, gotta stop keeping a grudge against them, especially since Iroha and Mizki were such sweet girls. Well, I'm still here, so you could see that it's a mega spoiler. Boo.

Since I could no longer see or say anything, I don't really remember much of what happened. And it didn't happen suddenly either. They talked to each other for a bit about pointless stuff. Well, in my opinion they were. Then again, I'm on death row because of them and I highly doubt that most people gave a damn about their executioners, anyway. At this point, however, I was terrified, but I tried to keep my cool and think about what I could do. After weight my options, I realized there really wasn't anything I could do. Well then. . . I was screwed. And I hated how I was the victim in this, this time. I usually was the person to save someone else, so yeah, now I knew how Kaito felt when Dell and his group used to torment him. And it wasn't just them, but eh, I'm dragging this out too long, aren't I? Anyway, I could hear Mizki whisper something to one of them.

"Do we really have to do this?" she asked, her voice laced with worry and doubt. "She didn't do anything. I mean, she probably didn't even know what—"

"Shut up! Just do what she told us to do and don't complain!" Rin snapped at her.

I felt the hands that were holding my shoulders tense up. That could have been either Iroha or Mizki, Iroha becoming defensive that Rin spoke to her friend like that or Mizki trying to hide her frustrations. It won't matter in the end.

I guess I was mainly stuck in my own thoughts because I didn't feel the time pass until my back and head was slammed against something hard. It was metal, of course, because I felt my head was ringing. And the dull pain was a good place to start. At this point, I was mentally freaking out. So, I had assumed that they were just going to try and scare me, that the whole hurting me thing was just a bluff. Pffft. Well, wasn't I horribly mistaken?

Then, that's when they started to whack my body with blunt objects. I didn't know where to block, what to defend, so I did the most of what I could do in that position. I curled up in a ball, and turned my face until I was pressing my nose against the dirt. It was loose, with some gravel mixed in with it. I could have been at the park, but I didn't really know. All I knew at that time was that I wanted them to finish what they were doing and leave me be, hoping that maybe somebody would find me, anybody. I was scared.

And then I screamed.

I screamed as loud as I could until I was hoarse, but they didn't stop. Somehow, it almost felt like deja vu, I don't even remember why. Something about what they where doing to me just seemed familiar, painfully familiar, which would probably explain why I started thrashing around and throwing choice words at them.

"Come on! Let's stop, look at her head! Rin, I don't want to, Miku made me go with you because she threatened to—"

A sharp slap could be heard and I couldn't help but wince. My stomach was hurting, my head wouldn't stop spinning and I could taste something salty in my mouth and I had to spit it out. But it hurt more to know that Mizki was thrown into all of this against her wishes, and I wanted to get up and hurt Rin and Miku for pressuring her into this. She didn't need any of this.

Then Iroha started screaming at Rin and Rin at Iroha. They were throwing insults at one another, saying cruel things to each other and I felt somebody trip and twist my ankle. I mean, really? Why me? Just because I didn't like somebody, I was being put through all of that crap? If it wasn't for the throbbing sensation I was feeling in my head, I would have tried to get away. But I couldn't when I felt somebody yank and twist the roots of my hair.

"And must where the hell do you think you're going?" the imp snarled. Maybe I was trying to escape?

In any case, I was in no condition to fight back in that position with my senses dulled like that. So I waited until my body grew numb from her beatings (I could tell that it was only her because I could hear Mizki and Iroha walk away from her). I was just wanting it all to be over, but I guess I was still far from it when I heard Mizki scream.

"Rin! Miku just wanted you to hurt her! Put that away, give it to me, just leave her alone!"

. . . If I wasn't freaking out before, I definitely was at that point. Now, my mind started going off at about a hundred miles an hour, just wondering what the hell Mizki was yelling about because I tried my best to force my mind to not let whatever I was thinking get to me. It wasn't until I felt someone pull on my pant leg, the sound of fabric tearing, and the sharp, stinging pain on my thigh that told me that I should probably try to scream again.

Which I found myself incapable of doing. Instead, I just remember gasping and clawing at the air. I think I was talking to myself because Rin commented about how she didn't believe that I was crazy or something. I bit my tongue, I remember I did that because it hurt and it was bruised the next day because I was talking so fast and it had happened by accident. G-give me a sec.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

It hurt. A lot.

She cut me. Rin cut me.

Why weren't you there to help me? Just like that evil man who grabbed me and didn't let me go. Why did you tell him those things? Why didn't you run, like you told me to? He didn't want you, he wanted me. . .

I was so scared, Kio, I was so, so, so scared.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

I heard someone fall, and I knew it was Rin. Iroha punched her hard, I knew she did because I heard a loud pop. But that didn't make the hurt go away.

. . . Everything was so dark, so very, very dark. . . I couldn't hear anything, I couldn't feel anything.

I thought I ended up like you.

You never came back, you liar.

You _lied_ to me.

You said that you would never do that, that you would take care of me so that nobody would know. You were scared of what I was and you didn't want anybody else to know. You wanted me and I wanted you, only you. You're a liar and I **_hate_** you for it. You're just like Kaito, like Spark, like mother, like father.

Like everyone.

And I loved you, so. . .

Everything was so dark and then it was bright when my eyes finally opened. I was so stupid. I looked at my body. Cuts and gashes were everywhere on my arms, legs, my tummy, even my neck.

She missed. A lot.

Why did she want to hurt me? I never did anything to her, I never did anything to them. I just wanted to go to school, like a good girl. I am a good girl. You said so yourself, remember?

My skin was dyed with different hues that came with bruises. It was easy to see that. It forced me to look at my old scars, forced me to see the places that marked the times I hurt myself and stayed there. Remember that scar you gave me by accident? I don't really remember, but mother told me that I fell from the tire swing and rolled down to the little creek. That rock got to me before you could. It's gone; the skin is bumpy and uneven, but it's still soft.

I'll never forgive you. Not ever. _Ever_.

You never came back, you never came back to protect me. I got hurt, you see? And it's all your fault.

And it's because of you mother and father wouldn't let me go back to school for so long. It's because of you girls like Rin, Iroha and Mizki were forced to do what that Devil ordered to do. They never came back to school, they weren't allowed to. Mizki couldn't afford to get out. Miku wanted her to go. She didn't like her, she was too quiet and that scared Miku.

So she got rid of her, like how she wished I was rid of.

But I'm still here. I'm still here and you're not. Why didn't you hold me? Piko had to do that. Mother and father tried to, but I wouldn't let them. They did this to me, they brought me here. Why couldn't they just leave me alone? They did whenever I wanted to go away and hide in the meadow. Do you remember the meadow? You found it for me. It was our secret place to play. It was also the last place I saw you. Why couldn't you be happy? You were never mad, never sad.

I hated the smell of that place. I hated hearing all of those weird beeps. I hated not being able to think clearly or hear through my left ear. I hated having to see my reflection. Did you know my hair looked a lot like Rin's when I woke up? It was still longer, but it was really choppy. She must have spoken to Lola, Lola wanted my hair cut.

I grew it out for you, you loved long hair. Yours was long, even though you weren't a girl. But you looked really nice. I miss touching it. I miss you.

Kio. . . When are you coming back home to take me away?


	12. Secret Love

A/N:

I was genuinely surprised that I received some PMs asking me who "Kio" is. I thought that it was obvious! I'm not going to say much about him. However, I will say that he isn't a fanloid at all. "Kio" is a nickname that Miki gave to him, since she was incredibly close to him before she moved to Japan. He has something to do with her family moving. Well, a great deal of it. I had way too many directions in which this story will go with him because he had a huge impact on Miki. I think I like writing in free-style, writing as I go along. I get these ideas right when I'm sitting down and I let my fingers do the rest. Unfortunately, I won't let "Kio" make any physical appearances, but he'll be mentioned from time to time through other characters, mainly Miki even though she has no recollection of him. You'll understand the further I go with this, and it should be cleared up in due time.

I'd like to thank these readers for taking some time to review my Fic:

_AkaiChouNoKoe_

_FluffyLiliac_

_I My Me Mine_ (It's okay, I need to review yours. I saw and read that you made a new one, I can't wait to see how Neru and Dell turn out!)

_xFearlessPurple21x_

_xMidnight Rose J12x_

And I can't forget my anonymous reviewers (or those who didn't log on. X3 )!

_Hoshi_

_lazy_

_Turds_

Again, thank you all very much, it makes me happy and want to update so much quicker whenever I read them. ^^

I've kept you all waiting long enough. Onwards to the next chapter!

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><p>Okay, I got those stupid people worried about me the other day. Something about me having a "breakdown" in front of you. I don't remember any of that, I don't remember a thing. Everything was black, almost like I was sleeping the whole time I was with you. Or, at least towards the end. Where did I leave off. . . Hm? Kio? Who the hell is Kio? Friend of yours? No? I don't know him, so you're not going to get much info from me about him.<p>

. . . I do know him? Pffft, that's impossible. How could I forget a simple name like that? I think you're the crazy one.

. . . Do you want to hear what else happened to me or what? You can ask somebody else to help you find that person, but it ain't gonna be me, got it? Good. Oi, now you got me all worked up again, why do you always do that? I mean, really, you say one thing and then you didn't let it drop when I told you to. If I say I don't know who this one person is, isn't that a good sign to just, move on and forget? Sheesh. . . I better start talking about my story before I turn this into a full-out rant. You don't horribly mind if it is, do you? Naw, just teasing.

Okay, then. . . I remember now.

My parents were even more afraid for me and they punished me for leaving the house for school when they told me not to. Actually, my punishment was incredibly light despite what I did. After they saw how I looked afterwards, they didn't have the heart to do the usual. In fact, I wouldn't really call it a punishment at all. I rarely listened to my mp3 and watched TV, I almost forgot they took those away until I stopped and asked myself why my room felt a little empty. The TV was twenty-five inches, after all.

Even though I was out of school for about a month, I really don't remember how it felt. I only remember how it felt so much like I was in captivity, even though I was free to roam around the house. Except I couldn't venture outside. I think that's what did me in because I remember my days used to be entirely black or I'd have bits and pieces pop up in my head reminding me how I spent it. I didn't do much, I mainly sat in a corner in my room with my back against the world. That's how I mostly remembered it.

It wasn't until the day I slept until six in the morning, like I've been doing for a month, that I heard the slight clink! clink! clink!ing of pebbles making contact with the glass double doors that my heart sped up and breathing felt labored. I dared to hope who it was when I flung the covers off of me and checked the time. The time read a quarter till seven.

I dared hope and prayed that it would be him, so, in the bitter, biting cold of January, still in my black tank top and fleece short shorts in bare feet, I swung the doors wide open and greeted the suffocatingly cold air.

I gripped onto the railing and looked down, expecting to see that shock of navy blue hair when all hope was shattered when I caught sight of green and gold.

"Miki-chan! Can you go, now?" Gumi asked, her hands cupped around her mouth, a puff of moist breath following those words.

I felt my heart sink and I felt like ignoring them, walking back through the doors and shut them tight, so that I could curl up in my bed like the pitiful, miserable mess I was.

But I didn't.

"I don't think so, Gumi-chan."

"But you already look a lot better!"

That much was true. I still, for some reason, had the bruises from that event, even though they were yellowing. My parents were very specific about me not going to school until they had some things straightened out. But then, they didn't get home until well into the evening. . . And if I made my teachers promise not to tell them I was there, then it was alright, wasn't it?

I didn't want to believe it'd be that easy, no matter how much I wished it really was. But still, I took the bait.

"But. . . I don't have uniforms, anymore. My parents hid them from me."

Out of everything they did, that was the only one that confounded me to no end. Why in the world would they hide them from me? Did I really make it seem like I would leave against their wishes? I was a good girl, I would have never done that. To my prior knowledge, I had never done anything on purpose to infuriate them. The ones who more than likely will are my friends.

Gumi grinned. "No problem! I always keep a spare in my bag!" she cried and was already ahead of the game when she pulled the outfit out. Except there was a tiny problem to it that made my left eye involuntarily twitch in disgust.

It was the _girls_ uniform.

I've never worn the girls, even when I was just a tyke. I had enough with dresses and skirts outside of school and I had convinced my mother that she would be much better off if she invested in something that she and I both knew would be more practical to me. Miki plus pants equals total win!

So, of course, you could imagine how mortified I was on the inside that I may, for once, be forced into one of those tiny, pleated, creased things, pieces of fabric that cover your waist and not much else of your thigh. Oh my gosh, I would have rather jumped off of the balcony and try to land, head first, onto the bricks that my mother had laid out to make a small border around her plants for when summer came in. Which, I'm sure I would have done that had it not been for one other force.

"Gumi, I told you she would never wear that."

We all turned around to find the source of the voice and would you believe it that it was Piko?

Gumi pouted at the sight of him. "And I told you that it was worth a shot! You were begging and bored the other day that she wasn't there, so don't go complaining to me when Lily and I are the only ones trying to make an effort and help Miki-chan out of this!" she snapped.

I raised an eyebrow at this. I never knew Gumi was so forceful. She didn't seem like the type. I thought this would have fazed him, but surprisingly enough, it didn't and he actually rolled his eyes at her and started climb up the study vine that seemed well enough to have more people apply weight to it.

After Piko swung his legs over and plopped right in front of me, almost nose to nose, he sighed. Since he was that close, I could smell his breath, which was actually minty. Pepper-minty. I think he was eating a candy cane, more than likely the ones that I sent him as a present for Christmas. I bought a good amount and I was surprised that they lasted him for this long. I'm sure his mom had to hide them away from him. I mentally grinned at the thought of his mother, strict and loving Meiko, holding the package above his head like she usually did every Christmas that I spent in Germany with them. And Piko would always beg (he wasn't beneath doing that if it involved sweets) and his eyes would glimmer from the tears he tried to keep pooled in them. His mother hated crying kids. It was tolerable and understanding as infants, but not when you were a pre-teen. And for something as simple as candy to cry about.

He gently took me by the arm and his unexpected touch from his warm hands reminded me that I lacked the appropriate amount of winter wear. I shivered.

He draped his coat over my shoulders and pulled me inside my room and swiped the outfit from Gumi's hands and locked the door behind us, right in front of Gumi and Lily. Lily raised her fist to punch through the glass, but Gumi held her back, probably thinking that my parents were still at home. Piko turned back and shut the curtains. I could only imagine the looks on their faces. He started going through my drawer for a pair of tights and tossed them to me.

"You'll need those." He said and turned around.

When he didn't hear any movement, he turned back around and scowled. "That's your cue to get dressed. My car is out there waiting for you to come. Neither of us going to school without you. I don't know why your parents are keeping you cooped up, but it's not going to solve anything. So hurry it up."

I stared at the clothes laid out for me and then back at him. "I. . . I don't want to go."

He sighed and slipped the long sleeved collared shirt over my tank top and started buttoning it up. He was slowly shaking his head while he was doing it and slipped on the yellow blazer and even tied the bow on my front and tried to make it as perfect as he could. He grabbed my skirt and slipped it over my shorts. After it was up, he slipped the shorts off and had me lift my left leg up so that he could slide the tights on. I didn't mind, this wasn't the first time he had to dress me. He used to when I blacked out back when we were little. I was used to this and so was he.

He slipped my shoes on and patted my bed, indicating that he wanted me to sit on it. I did what I was "told" and sat down, letting him bring the brush back in forth through my, now short, hair. Good thing I finally showered last night. I don't think I could actually handle him bathing me and I'm sure by then he'd let Gumi and Lily come in to help.

"There. Now you look presentable."

He helped me up and grabbed my coat and gently urged me forward. In the end, he had to carry me bridal style. I don't remember why I was being so difficult. It could be because I was in a skirt, the bruises that were still there on my face, or my hair. It could have mainly been my hair. I loved it so much. I ended up wrapping my arms around his neck, just like the way I used to do when I was scared and when I wanted to feel comforted. I heard him sigh and walk to my door that lead to the kitchen downstairs instead of the one that held Gumi and Lily away from us.

Once we were outside, Piko surprised them by calling them over and helped me in the car. I was in the front next to him. We made it to school without me realizing it.

I was so nervous, I tightened my hold on his hand when we walked through the doors. I found myself clinging onto him. He didn't mind as he pushed his way through the crowd, the people growing silent as they saw me. It was nerve-wracking. I almost wanted to let go of him and bolt right out the door. Maybe that's why my parents wanted me to stay. But why the constant absences? From what I know, they hadn't withdrawn me from school. But still, I didn't want to be there. I didn't care I had Piko helping me, it didn't feel right, being there. Just as I started to loosen my hold on him, I heard someone call my name.

"Miki!"

I wanted to wish that I could have changed that voice, I didn't want to hear him. Nonetheless, I couldn't ignore him or anything like that. So I forced myself to turn around and plastered on a smile for him and nodded. "M-Morning Leon."

He grinned and had a look of relief cross his features. Why was he so worried about me? Could it be because I had to refuse to answer his texts and calls? It could be that. He also didn't know where I lived, I think. It's just me. Only I know where he lives. I never invited him to my place. Maybe, I don't know why, but that point, it had felt like it was a good thing that I hadn't. I wasn't entirely sure. Before he could get say anything, Piko cut him off.

"Let her be, she's tired, she can talk to you some other day." He snapped and grabbed my wrist to drag me into the next class. Luckily, he and I shared it together. Amane sensei was puzzled when she saw me walk into class after being missing for a month. She blinked several times and took a long drag of her coffee before she visibly perked up and grinned.

"Good morning, Miki. Are you feeling better?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but Piko beat me to the punch. "She's fine. She wanted to come and visit today. Don't make her do much today."

. . . I was really lost. Come and visit? I'm wearing the girl's uniform for crying out loud! . . . Did I neglect to mention that it was the girls?

Amane sensei seemed just as shocked as I was and dumbly nodded her head before she moved out of the way to give us some room to walk to our seats. I found it incredibly strange when Piko actually helped me sit down. The rest of the day was pretty much like that. He was treating me as if though I was a precious porcelain doll. He didn't let anybody near me and even forced Gumi and Lily to follow me to the girls room.

"You have to understand, Miki. He nearly had a heart attack. He thought the worse when the school's cameras picked up the scene and they sent a call to that construction site where they found you. Rin had knocked Iroha unconscious with a pipe. She was ready to hurt you again if it wasn't for Mizki. She actually hit Rin on the side of the head with a stick. A really big stick. Rin's head actually started to bleed. And it made things worse for Piko because your parents wouldn't let anybody see you. Why is that? Lily and I came to check up on you."

I shrugged, my reflection mirroring my movements so that I didn't have to face Gumi. Girls walked in and then scurried right out at the sight of me. Why did they do that? I was hurt, I was just attacked, that's all. Why were they treating me that way?

". . .I don't know why my parents kept you all away. I don't know what goes on in their heads. I don't really know what goes through mine sometimes. . ." I gradually grew quiet. "Why is everyone hiding from me?" I wanted to curl up in a tight ball and hide away from everyone. I wanted to go back home. Maybe my parents had seen that this kind of thing would happen. Why didn't I listen to them?

A pair of arms was wrapped around my shoulders and I felt Gumi pull me in for a hug. She's the kindest person I'll ever meet. She still is, she sometimes comes by to see me, even now. But that's a different story.

I bit my lower lip to keep myself from sighing. Gumi didn't have to say anything. I just wanted to hear her tell me, to confirm what I was thinking. But I don't think I really wanted to hear it. I gently pried her fingers loose and threaded my fingers through my hair. When my fingers felt cold, I remembered why. I hated the hair cut. Gumi smiled. A comforting one, not the kind Miku shot at me when we passed the hallways.

_Miku_. . .

"Is it bad to feel as if though you wish and desperately want to cause someone any pain?" My voice was barely audible.

"Morally, yes, but in your case I can understand why you feel like that. But you shouldn't stoop to her level. I don't know why in the world she would have them do that to you, but I know that it's not-"

"She's obsessed with getting rid of me because Kaito." I couldn't help but cut her off to share that bit of information. It's just like that, that's how it was. She didn't like the fact that I was still wanted to be close to him. I also couldn't understand why she'd wish that sort of thing for me, but that's just how it was. It was in the past, I'm okay, for the most part, so that meant that she had failed. I just wished it hadn't been so painful.

Before I knew it, Gumi had lead me out of the restroom and escorted me to my English class. After having a short conversation with Piko, she quickly ran off to catch her next class. Cul sensei was surprised to see that I was back after being absent for so long, but if she had any concerns about it, she didn't voice them. She went on with the lesson as if though there wasn't a disturbance in the air.

It didn't bother me, I preferred it that way. Maybe that's why I kind of like her. She minds her own business and was the type to let you have your space. Either that, or she really just didn't care and considered me another body to add to the list that she had to keep tabs on.

The rest of the day went by smoothly, even though I was barely paying any attention as to how to conjugate verbs at the time when I felt a note land on my lap. I peered down and picked it up. I looked to the left and saw Leon grin. I couldn't help but return the smile and had my eyes quickly shift over to Piko. He really had been acting a little too stiff today, I 'm pretty sure he would have taken this as a threat on Leon's part. Especially for the way he spoke to him this morning. I wonder what that was all about.

I pushed the thought aside and opened up the note.

_What's going on at home? Why didn't you pick up my calls and answer my texts?_

I figured as such so I sent him a quick response and tossed it back to him.

_My phone broke. I'm still waiting to get a new one, but that could take a while knowing my parents. They've been really busy lately._

Well, the latter wasn't a lie, but I didn't feel good lying to him about why I ignored him for the past month. The note soon found itself on my lap again and I had to open it up.

_You don't mind if we went to visit the florist today, do you?_

That was a surprise. It's still January and he wanted to visit a florist? For what reason would he ever have to do that? There's still frost and he lives in an apartment. I'd understand if he had asked me to do this in, say, April, and that if he had a decent sized plot of land to get started on gardening, but since nothing fell under those categories, it just didn't make any sense to me whatsoever.

_No, not really. Why do you need to go?_

Curiosity was getting the better of me. That was the only reason that I agreed and decided to accompany him. I wanted to know why he was interested in going when it was just too cold to do so. The note found its way again on my lap.

_Just wanted to check up on a few things over there. I know somebody who works there._

My guess was he wanted to introduce me to said friend and I suppressed the urge to sigh. Hey, it's not like everyday I get invited to leave. Then I remembered about my parents. They have no idea that I was "kidnapped". That, I say it lightly since I willingly left with them. Piko would have understood that if I had told him that I didn't want to go. Well, in a stronger, more assertive voice. He can take hints. But he didn't know that my parents had pretty much locked me up in there for so long. I knew that my parents didn't talk to his parents. It must have been hard for father to ignore his older sister, but that's how it was.

So, in the end, I had to turn down his offer, telling him that I had just remembered that I had things to do at home since my parents were coming home early.

His smile barely faltered as he looked at me with such conviction when he stated,"It won't be long, I just want you to meet her."

Her. A she. Why am I not surprised? Why do I have the feeling that he's not really there to just introduce me? I sighed. I couldn't say no in the end because I was not in the mood to keep going and argue with him.

I turned around and faced the white board, Piko's head in front of me. Even now, I wondered if he heard any of that, or that he was just tired of trying to help me since that's what he had been doing that whole day. Poor him.

* * *

><p>xXx<p>

* * *

><p>Once school was over, I forced Leon to hurry up and take me to the blasted flower shop to meet the damned florist. I didn't know how much longer I would have before my parents came home. The last thing I needed was having them breathing down the back of my neck and grounding me for all eternity.<p>

So I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that there was actually a store that was wedged in between these two large, four story buildings. The shop was incredibly tiny. But it was cute. Maybe the size made it even cuter than it really was, considering that there was beautiful hand-drawn roses, sunflowers, peonies, and lilies that were painted on the glass. The amount of detail placed into it made them look realistic from far away. Color me impressed.

Going inside was nothing short of what I had expected. There was a lot of packets of seeds in one shelf, some bulbs in the other, pots here and there of assorted sizes and colors, a few fountains and pond supplies. But there was something new that caught my eye. There was tanks filled with koi behind the counter. That's useful. Get the pond stuff and the fish all at once. Noice.

From behind the counter, there was familiar looking petite, young woman with emerald green eyes, short, wavy dark hair that bounced when she walked, a full pout, high cheekbones, a little sensual sway in her gait, and wore a maroon dress that hugged her body and accented all the right assets.

Well, is she was his ex girlfriend. . . Then damn, how do I compare with that when I'm as straight as a stick and as flat as an ironing board?

E-eh? ! N-no way! I didn't say that I was girlfriend! I was never Leon's girlfriend! I never saw him like th-that! Never, ever, never forever ever! ! . . . Oh screw you with something hard and sandpapery. . . Give me a sec to fan my face, it got really hot in here for no good reason. . .

Well, ahem, anyways~

The girl heard the small bell over the door chime and smiled. She walked toward us and lightly dipped her head to bow.

"Pleased to see you again, Leon," she said in a strong, cheery voice. There was an accent that was stringed in there, but I wasn't able to pinpoint what exactly.

"Prima! Long time no see. How's Japan treating you?"

"All lot better from what I had expected. I was going to work in that little fancy restauraunt down over there, you know, past the bakery and in between the bistro?"

"Of course, it'd have to be Italian."

"_Ma per favore_, you make it sound as if though it's a horrid thing that it is, _mi amico_." she trilled.

Okay, her accent couldn't have been Spanish. Or French. Italian?

While I was lost in the sea of possibilities of this beautiful mystery woman, she turned and her eyes sparkled that the sight of me. I guess she hand't noticed that I was there before.

"_Bene, bene, bene, chi abbiamo qui?_" she said with a teasing smile.

. . . She completely lost me. Just what the hell was she talking about? In what language was she talking in? ! Gah, she was so confusing and pretty! Dangerous combo, I guess. . .

I could hear Leon chuckle and looked back at me with an apologetic smile. "Miki, I'd like for you to meet my best friend, Prima. She just moved from Italy to here for a while to visit her fiance, Tonio, who's on tour here in Japan. They're both actually renowned Opera singers."

So that's why she looks so familiar! She's the "First Lady" Prima! Gosh, she seems so different when she's wearing casual clothes, no makeup, and not speaking in her booming voice.

She laughed when she saw the look of recognition on my face.

"So, she's only you _amica_? Nothing more?" She said, that same, teasing element evident in her voice.

Leon's ears started to turn red and I raised a brow. Oh come on, it couldn't have been like that, he and I are just friends and the shop was a little too warm since we had just came in from the outside. . . Right?

"She's only a friend, Prima. Just a friend." he said, stressing out the last word.

Prima shot him a dubious look, but she let it slide. I'm sure she'll grill him about it later when I'm gone. Poor him. First, it was the females of his family and now her? He must really be a butt monkey for women. Ouch.

"Well, I have some beautiful _fioris_ that need some tending, I'll be right back." She said, for a change of subject I'm sure, and disappeared behind a maroon cover that was used as a door for the storage room, I presumed. My guess is that she likes the color maroon.

She started taking a while so Leon and I started to pace around the shop on our own. There wasn't a lot of live plants that were out, a few lilies, peonies, marigolds, and a few others that I didn't know their names of here and there. Nothing really impressive.

"See anything you like?"

I turned around and saw that he was peering down at me, watching what I was doing. I shook my head.

"No, there's not a lot of variety, but then again, it's still January."

"True."

There was an comfortable silence going on until he broke it.

"I thought you were going to fuss about getting to meet Prima."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I'm not one to throw myself at celebrities, remember?"

Now it was his turn to laugh and nodded.

"True, I wouldn't want to be the one responsible for stealing Miku's number one fan because she met Prima." he joked.

The conversation went from there, to him asking me how my Christmas was, what I did before we swapped about his story.

"Well, Miriam received more make up from Lola, mainly lipsticks of the rainbow and Lola got a lot of cooking supplies. She's incredibly fond of this non-stick frying pan called a Simka pan or something."

"My mother uses those. It's a good brand. Don't use the rough part of the sponge to clean it, it scratches."

"Of course I know that. What kind of a person does that?"

_A person who's incredibly stupid._

I couldn't help but think that. Because that was just the kind of person I am.

The bell chimed again, but I was too busy looking at the daises and gardenias to bother looking up to see who it was. However, I managed to see Leon visibly stiffen and hovered over me protectively. Next thing I knew, he snapped one of the gardenia's off from the pot it was in and tucked it behind my ear and grinned.

"You look great in white."

I couldn't stop the heat from rising to my face and I looked the other way to try and hide it. Of course, because he's just that much taller than me, he was able to see it and let out a whole-hearted laugh.

"You are adorable when you do that, did you know that?"

No, no I didn't. And I would have normally hurt anybody who would say that, but for some reason, it felt. . . Nice. It felt really nice being told that.

Just then, Prima came back and squealed like a school girl.

"Leon! You hound, you! Does she even know what Gardenias mean?"

I blinked in confusion while Leon's face flushed. Prima took it upon herself to explain as she giggled and leaned over to touch the flower in my hair.

"Whenever someone receives a gardenia from a certain someone, it represents 'secret love'~"

I could have sworn that my heart was going to burst from that or that I would have died of a heat stoke were it not for the fact the door slammed, causing the bell to violently shake, and the shock of navy blue hair that was the cause of it.

* * *

><p>AN:

Sooo. . . Whatcha think? Longer than usual, but I felt like making as such. *yawns* Tired. . . Well, I added and mentioned two Engloids on here~ They are so under appreciated, they really need more mentionings in here!


	13. Girls Day Out

A/N:

So sorry for the month long absence and even beyond that! Had too much to do on my plate and I did something so incredibly stupid, but I'm back! I've restarted doing _One Chance_, due to an extremely kind review sent by FluffyLiliac. Thank you for getting my lazy ass off and out to go ahead and do it again. I had lost any sort of motivation doing it, but then I saw that it had a new review, read yours and the ones sent by past readers, and I felt horribly guilty for letting you all down. . . So, even though it actually sucks, I went back and finished the rest! Thanks again!

Now, to help and try to clear any confusion for Mrs. Hiyama (anonymous reviewer), is that you're just going to have to wait. You'll find out who Miki's talking about in due time. In fact, I really think that's the only planned part of this story. This whole thing is a work of my B. and such that I've now been starting to do as a way to see how good of a drabbler I am. Weird, I know, but trust me on this. But this is the first and _only_ time I'm going to be writing off the top of my head. I mean, who knows when my luck will run out?

~Mipiko

* * *

><p>I'm curious; has anything like that ever happened to you? That really, really awkward moment with your ex-friend and your potential "more-than-a-best-friend"? Ehhhh. . . Well. . . Let's just say that school became a bit more. . . Interesting after that. Word spread like wildfire that Leon and I were "a set" and that Piko and my friends attempted to hose those rumors down. It drove Piko <em>insane<em>. He didn't like those rumors, not one bit. If he had any real say about it, he'd go around and say that Leon didn't really know the real meaning of gardenias. That Leon only wanted me to meet his friend. That there's absolutely_ nothing_ going on between us. Silly Piko. I think you're more childish than me, sometimes. You can't always sugar-coat things for me. I know what's the truth and what's the lie whenever you speak to me. I still love you very dearly, though, but I just wished you were more honest with me. . .

I visited Leon's apartment more and more until it became a daily thing for me. I no longer had to fear that my parents would come home before me and so I felt more comfortable and at ease to stay over for hours on end. I even ate at their place more often. I gained a little weight, just like Lola had predicted. I don't mind gaining a little weight. It actually looks nice, being a bit more rounded. But I'm still FAR from looking chubby. In fact, you wouldn't be able to tell because of all of the coats I wore to keep the cold out.

At that moment, I was at their place again. Miriam invited me for dinner that night and, luckily, I knew that my parents were coming home late that evening. So I stayed and killed a few more hours over there, eating lobsters, fried rice, and some other things that I can't remember. But there was wine. Pffft, don't look at me like that. I may be a little reckless, but I'm not stupid. Leon and I stayed clear from the drink.

Miriam and Lola, however, were a whole other story. Lola began sobbing to their indoor palm tree. She even started yelling out of all these random crap stuff. She kept asking it,"What did I do wrong? What made you want to break up with me? I'll be better, I promise!"

Obviously, she had some issues with a past boyfriend. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in finding out what she was talking about, but it was none of my business and she was out of it, so there wasn't anything I could do about it. Even Leon stayed out of her way. Miriam. . . It wasn't until then did I learn that she was going to be a Literature scholar or something like that.

Over at their place, I learned that she looks up to the Brontë sister. They're her idols, apparently. And she seems to harbor a strong dislike to George Orwell. Leon explained to me that one of her exes that she was extremely close to was a Orwell scholar and he didn't' appreciate her doing the Brontës. He would put down their works and call their novels "books with corsets". Miriam time and time again would have to tell him that in their time, their books were considered to be too "masculine" and a threat to the minds of their dainty women. Women were strongly advised not to read them after the sisters revealed their names to the public. I'll give them credit though. Those women had guts.

I was mildly afraid of Miriam when she teetered close to my side of the couch, slung her arm around mine, and then leaned a little too close for comfort to my face. I could smell the thick, sweet scent of the alcohol. I think she had some kind of Californian Merlot or whatever. I wasn't really paying attention of what she drank. _Down and Out in Paris and London_ was her ex's favorite book done by his hero, George Orwell. She had bought him a first edition book of it and he was moved to tears by her kind gesture. He even said that nobody had ever given him such a thoughtful gift and that Miriam knew him so well and just how much he loved her. Too bad that even though they were together for three years, and were engaged for six months of all things, he lost the spark of their relationship and had told her that he fell out of it, that she wasn't the one for him. It was obvious that she didn't take it well while she was ranting on.

"_Down and Out in Paris and London_~! Now _that_ is a stupid and romantic book!" she slurred. "Ol' Georgie wandered around poor and ponderous and unappreciated in Paris and had to wash dishes! In fact, the whole damn essay had about it the strapping romance of being a young,-*hic*- undiscovered 'genius', which only revealed that men were far more romantic-*hic*-than women! Leave it to a man to roman-*hic*-ticize washing dishes!" she exclaimed with exaggerated hand gestures.

I backed away a bit and leaned more into Leon's side and he wrapped an arm around me, trying to create an ever bigger distance away from his drunk cousin. But it still wasn't enough as she sloppily closed the gap. "At least women romanticized important things like sex -*hic*- and death! Pffft, and I guess by extension goss-*hic*-gossip and clothes. But men? Ha! What a wretched waste of romantic anguish was laid at his feet of dishwashers and women named Brett or Slim who in a million-*hic*-years would never sleep with him~. And that was another thing he kept looking down his nose at the Brontës, at the 'foofy' girliness of all of those 'books with-*hic*-corsets'. Here's an irony he can discuss with-*hic*- his whore-ish swim suit model of a bitch! In their day, the Brontës were constantly criticized for being too-*hic*- masculine! Writing under male pseudonyms, the women were chastised for the strange passions of their female characters, the crude realism of their depictions of the male-female relationship, and the outright impropriety that these authors actually seemed to endorse! Women were actively warned not to read-*hic*-them!"

I squeaked when she spilled some of her Merlot onto my top. It felt cold and it was easily recognizable that it would always be there because I wore my favorite white blouse. Leon quickly got up to retrieve napkins while Miriam seemed to have completely disregarded it and continued on her rant.

"When it was-*hic*-discovered that the authors were actually-*hic*-authoresses, it was assumed that the harsh countryside, the strangeness-*hic*-of being isolated, backward comm-*hic*-unity had warped the imaginations of these-*hic*-sweet, motherless girls, the daughter of a parson, no less. The Brontës were too mas-*hic*-masculine for women to read. Perhaps his new girlfriend can deconstruct that!"

I thought she was finished at that point as I tried to scoot away, but oh, Fate does not love me and I'm sure that Kami was away tending to more important matters at that time when she harshly grabbed my wrist and pulled me down again.

"And what about that pansy-*hic*-Orwell, weeping into his shirtsleeves about shooting an elephant? The Brontës were-*hic*-looking better all the time! Even dreamy, fantasy-riddled,-*hic*-consumptive Emily, when bitten by a strange dog, took it upon her-*hic*-self to cauterize the bite with a fire iron and never even mentioned it to her family until the fear of-*hic*-infection had passed. It was odd, wispy Emily who clung to life, managing the house-*hic*-hold, planning her next novel, referring to the cough that would take her as a 'dry uninteresting wind' and denying that she was dying until her final-*hic*-breath at twenty-nine!"

Leon had came and tried to rescue me, but Miriam caught him in her web and brought his and mine faces a little too close for comfort. Or, I guess it was a little too close if can say that our lips were a breath apart from touching. . . O-okay, a-ahem. . .

Well, Leon was able to successfully pull me out of Miriam's iron-like death grip, she turned to scowl at us before looking back down at the couch that held Lola's sleeping form. In a bitter, hurtful tone, this was the last thing I heard her say once Leon gave me my coat and ushered me out:

"Emily Brontë could kick George Orwell's ass any day of the week. You're no better than he was!"

After that, I saw her head loll to the side as she drifted off into a thick and boozy sleep.

* * *

><p><em>xXx<em>

* * *

><p>Okay, I'm back from my break again~ Sorry that I took longer than usual, but I got a little peckish and wanted a snack. I've never had anise cookie before, but they're really good. And now I'm thirsty. . . Hm? Oh, right! The story, I'm sorry, I forgot for a moment there that you have limited time with me, silly me~!<p>

Well, now where was I. . . Oh yeah!

Leon managed to beat my parents and had me home sooner than I had expected. Since they weren't there, I was able to use my house key and waltz inside without a care. I'm going to save you the time and kill your imaginations by going ahead and say that I never got caught not being home when they were. There were days where it felt like they didn't come home at all and that I was alone in all of this. . . So I began to feel a bit abandoned, to be quite honest. The only time I never left home was on the weekends where I would kill the hours by napping, going down for a snack, or to tend to my new pet cat that I found on the street on some day, but that was long ago. However, my parents, in a sense, were there because they would leave small hints that they did come home. Like leaving a few dishes in the sink. So it was just my paranoia working against me.

Oh, and my cat's name is Artemis and he was a boy. He was all black except he had a white spot over his left eye and his eyes were green. He was a really pretty cat and my parents must have figured that I got lonely and had fed him some bits of my dinner and then won his trust. They are smart like that. But what's to expect from parents like them? I'm not saying that to be negative, spiteful, or whatever other word you can come up with thanks to a Thesaurus. They were just observant. Keen. And now I'm being redundant and wasting your time again, right?

Fine.

Even though I never went out on the weekends, Lola and Miriam have taken me out shopping during the week, almost immediately once school was over. So, the next day at school, once it was finally over and I had successfully managed to avoid a certain pair, Lola called out to me.

"Yo Rusty! Over here!"

I whipped my head around in surprise. I didn't expect anybody to call me that. It took me a while to realize that there was only two people out there that have called me that and Lily was already gone with her sister.

I couldn't help but smile at Lola and waved. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Em and I wanted to make it up to ya for ruining your top last night," she admitted. Her eyes softened when she said that and I knew that she was sorry and a bit embarrassed about the whole thing. She may be loud and have a big mouth, but she could be a sweetheart when you least expect it. And this was one of those times when I didn't expect her to be. I didn't want to be rude so I accepted her offer and climbed into the car.

Miriam was in the driver's seat and appeared sheepish when she saw me come in. Her cheeks were dusted a light shade of pink. It was pretty obvious because of her pale skin. She's a dear. It's no wonder I didn't feel upset when she did that to my shirt. Now, it'd been a different story if it was Lola or some other person, but Miriam meant nothing of it and she was upset when she was drunk. That and she was obviously not in control of what she was doing. So all was forgiven. Besides, they could always repay me back with a short trip to the stores. I'll help lighten the load in her wallet.

. . .I'm sorry. . . My head's kind of starting to hurt. . . C-can you give m-me a mo-. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

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><p><em>xXx<em>

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><p>. . .<p>

. . .

. . .

I-I'm really sorry about that. . . I just. . .I just haven't been having a lot of sleep lately so I'm just so tired right now. . . I really didn't mean to fall asleep while talking to you. . . I really didn't mean any by it. Eh, heh heh, um, uh, maybe I bore myself with my own stories.

U-um, well. . . You do have about thirty minutes left with me and - don't give me that look, I feel fine! Really, I do. Let me just stop wasting my time and try to humor you, okay? Or, at least try to. I don't really have that many funny moments, buuuuut. . .

Once we spent a good hour and a half in one clothes store, the girls took me out for a bite to eat, and then they had asked if there was anything else that I had wanted to do. At first, I was going to say that there wasn't anything that I had wanted to do, but then I was struck by an idea.

About an hour later, we were in front of the dorms of the college that Ron and Dell resided in. I hadn't seen them in three years, but we did stay in touch via texting and calls. I just never got around to actually tell them hi to their faces. Until now.

We were held up a bit back at the Dean's office. He almost didn't seem to believe me that a group of three girls that had decided to randomly show up, claim to being friends of one of the students was the most farfetched thing he's ever dealt with. It took me a while to convince him, but it wasn't until Miriam sweet talked him that we were able to go through. You know, that reminds me, I always did say I was going to ask her if she could teach me how to do that trick. . . She seems so good being able to talk her way out of most things.

Anyway, I digress. It took us a while to find their dorm once the Dean finally gave me a slip of paper with their dorm number. I cursed my horrible sense of direction. Really, I'm worse than my Father. He has to rely on my Mother on how to get to places. But I don't have a wife by side. . .What? Hey, I don't go that way! Whatever. . .

Luckily, we found the dorm in less than twenty minutes and once we made it to Dorm room M 2248, I racked my knuckles against the wood and waited for a response. I heard some mumbling going on behind the door and then it was silent. Just as I was about to lift my hand up and repeat the action, I heard an exasperated sigh from the other side.

"Oh yeah, sure, don't get up and move on my account," came a bitter, sarcastic remark from a familiar sounding Bishonen.

"Fuck off, I'm working." tap, tap, click, click, tap, tap, tap, tappity, tap, click, tap, tap, tappity, click.

Oh yeah. Those are my boys all right.

Ron looked pleasantly surprised when he opened the door but replaced it with his usual, calm smile. In some ways, he reminded me of Miriam for that. Maybe that's why I was close to her? She was the most level headed one. And now I know that she's the funniest one when drunk. Yep, acts a lot like him.

"Hey Dell, you might want to close that laptop for now."

Without looking, Dell grabbed a paper cup that used to hold coffee and threw it over his shoulder, trying but failing to hit Ron with it. The place was a MESS on one side while the other, undoubtfully Ron's, was neat and orderly. Kami, how I've missed them.

"Fine then, I'll take my business somewhere else. I know when I'm not wanted."

Not a lot of effort on my behalf to get Dell to stop typing and straighten his back. I wonder if he even realizes the danger of blood clots from beind stuck in that position for long hours and the risk of high blood pressure from all of that junk that I can see that he stuffs in his mouth. And I'm pretty sure he's taken up smoking again. There was an empty packet on his bed. Probably to help "ease" his nerves.

I couldn't help but sigh. Obviously, Dell was reverting back to his old self. And I didn't like it. He only quit because everyone, mainly his sister, would get on his case for it and he actually did try and came clean throughout most of high school. Or so I want to believe considering I'm not always around him.

He seemed happy to see a familiar face and raised a brow when he saw who I had behind me. The look that he was giving me made me smile. I could tell that he was happy, surprised and there was an underlining of "Oh shit, I owe somebody cash". That's right, Dell, better pay Neru and Nero the next time you see them. I'm pretty sure they'd appreciate the six bucks by now.

Lola was exerberant in her introduction and Miriam was much more homely and, well, quiet. Lola seemed to like the two, being that they weren't that much younger than she and that was when I realized that Miriam was actually just as old as Dell and Ron. I couldn't believe that I had overlooked that.

In any case, Ron made a point about that Dell needed to stop accepting extra work and that he was in need of a break, with the help of a women's touch of course.

Dell rolled his eyes. "I think you've gotten that handled, Ronnie."

Ron's eye twitched and he shoved Dell's jacket in his face. "Shut up and get out. You need some light in your system."

I won't say where they took us because time is running out, but it really was fun! And no, it was not a tavern or anything. To put your mind at ease, the boys actually took us out to a Karaoke Pub. Best fun I've had in ages. I got to sing with Ron and I don't think we did bad at all. I even got to do so with Lola and Miriam with Lola and Dell.

Not to sound a little cheeky or anything, but I think that Dell was a little too interested in Miriam and Miriam reciprocated it. They were awfully close and I swear, by the time we were finished, I think she and Dell exchanged numbers.

Ron saw it too because he was the one who nudged me to make sure I did miss it. I guess we'd have to be sure to visit more often. And that we did, but time is out and I'll save that for another day.

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><p>AN:

. . . Soooo. . . What did you all think of a Literate but drunk Miriam? XD I'll be honest here, I wish I was that creative with making up a convo like that on the fly, but this had actually happened to me back in ninth grade after we read "Down and Out in Paris and London" and "Wuthering Heights" in my AP English Literature class (Yeah, I was suicidal, don't remind me. I refused the Honors and went ahead to AP. FML because I did not know any better). We were reviewing those two pieces with a game called "Fish Bowl". In an fish bowl (hence it's name) has the names of every person in class. In the center of the room are four chairs and one table. You have ten minutes to pose a good argument against the other book with evidence that comes from the books. My name was called and I chose to do Emily's since I liked it so much better than George's and (it's done in groups of two) so, obviously the guy in front of me and his friend were for you-know-who.

. . .It actually got to be pretty brutal. Miriam's rant is an exert of my argument against his book and I even went beyond that. I skewered him and his pal, to say the least~ However, Miriam's last sentence isn't part of it at all. XD Just my opinion. Oh, and the whole swimsuit girlfriend thing. Excuse her language. ^^"

And now you see my new crack pairing at work! 8D Well, I'd love it if I can get two reviews or more on this chapter. And eh, sorry if my humor is so dry. . . OTL


	14. French, Be Warned

A/N:

Sorry! The PC was down on me on Christmas Day (of all days! DX ) So I wasn't able to upload anything because I really thought I could fix it on my own. Which, thankfully, I could. And it took me about a week. |D Ah well, here it is, I guess. ouo

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><p>I'm going to skip around a bit, just to give you a fair warning. I'm not going to bother what happened during the rest of January or February. I did, however, receive a small letter in a plain white envelope in my shoe locker on Valentine's and another one on White Day. I received a few things like that from a few other people, all from my small group of friends of course, and because of that small number, theirs was kinda "decked" out. Foam stickers, bubble letters, even a splash of a sweet smelling scent came from most of them. Well, Lily's was an exception, it was kind of crumbled. . . But she did go out and write a note in red ink instead of pencil like she did with Gumi's. So I guess it's a start between us.<p>

However, it was the simple white letters that I found that really caught my attention but I had to hide them and stuff them in my coat pocket whenever Leon came over. He handed me sweets, to my displeasure, on those two days. It's not like I don't like them or him or anything like that. It's just that I can't stomach most sweets. Like chocolate. He gave me chocolate. Chocolate doesn't settle well with my stomach. I don't like to waste things so after he walked away, I would tear off the name and go out to find Piko. Haha, if only you were there to see him! I swear, you can imagine the background glowing a soft pink with brilliant red roses opening up, adorned with dew drops and sparkles shimmering behind them, translucent bubbles coming and going reflecting the light. . . And shojo eyes. Dear Kami, the shojo eyes. He could easily pull it off if he was a shotaro boy in a shonen-ai manga. But you won't ever tell him that I said that about him, won't you?

I digress, I keep getting off topic with you, don't I? Well, thank you for not minding, but I really should stop. Anyway, after Piko graciously accepted the sweets and after squeezing the air out of me, I was finally able to go back to science class. Mind you, I share a class with you-know-who. Not the tealette, okay, that other you-know-who. Exactly.

This is the part that I am going to skip, okay? It's nothing much, really. I mean, I don't think it was big or anything like that at all. I just don't think you'd be interested in listening to me go on and on about a project that I don't remember about. Like, at all. So since I don't have many memories of that, I won't waste your time in trying to scan through my mind and bother looking for them. Besides, if I think too hard, I might accidentally give you inaccurate information for you to write down on your clipboard. So there, end of discussion.

That lasted until close to the end of March. Don't look at me like that, that's all, okay? That's it, the end, goose eggs. Nyah! Pfft. . . Yeeeeaaaah. . . I can't lie. One thing did happen back in March. . . And that is that Leon, Lola, and Miriam threw a party. It was for some kind of random occasion, or so I thought, but it ended up being more when I came in late that Friday evening. There was already an impressive amount of people present that I almost felt a little lost. It wasn't until I took the time to listen and realize that I actually recognized a few faces, even though I had never met them before.

A large, dark shadow loomed over me that forced me to turn around and give it my undivided attention. What I saw made me feel even more smaller and insignificant than from what I'd ever felt before in my short life. A man with russet colored hair that had greyed towards the bottom, slicked back and spiked at the end, black waistcoat, black dress pants and large shoes. In his hand he held a martini glass that looked somewhat tiny in his large hands. In short, because of my ridiculously small stature that I was "blessed" with, made me feel inferior next to him. He was intimidating to say the least. However, he did squash_—_horrible comparison, I know_—_my fears when he ended up being incredibly friendly. Or it could have been the wine. . . Must have been the wine.

Going off topic again, no surprise, but he was actually really pleasant to talk to as well. It was from our little chat that I had learned that he was the famed American friend that Leon knew, Al, or as many affectionately call him, Big Al. And it's not hard to see why. He wasn't big width wise, oh no, but height wise. At first, I thought it was me, since you know, I'm tiny anyway. But when Leon walked up next to him and then noticing that he was more than just a head smaller than Al. . . Let's just say I wasn't the only one towered over.

The night went on without any troubles as I was introduced to more and more guests, most of who were European. The ones I got along with that I can still remember were Hana Chikako, despite her gloomy attitude and exterior, ended up being a great conversationalist when we got onto the topic of favorite foods. She has a great love of strawberries. . . Actually, that's all I can remember right now. . .

Anyways, enough of that since I lied again. Out of no where, Prima came along and dragged, not only her fiance, but another fellow with dark green hair and matching curtains.

"There you all are! I was looking for you especially, Miki. I want you all to meet Matthieu Rosaire. He's a poet."

"_Non_, I am a _poem_," he corrected in a somewhat thick, French accent.

I guess being French made him interesting enough and I decided to bite. "Have you published anything?"

"_Non_. I never write anything down, that way anything can be in my poem. You can, she can, he can, everyone can. I write it down and suddenly there are all these things not in my poem_—_why would I do that? I write it down and now people will give me their stinking opinions. I don't want opinions, I have enough of my own. But now you see they say,'Oh, that Matthieu, he's such a clever fellow,' or else they think, What a stupid man that Matthieu_—_why have I wasted my time on him? You see? If I don't write down my poem, I save people from making their stinking opinions and we are all happy."

The things he was saying was a bit odd, but I slowly nodded my head, trying to make some sense of it. "That's true." I finally said while I scanned the area. Leon was no where in sight.

"But then," Al interjected,"if you say that you're a . . . poem, how are you even known around here?"

Matthieu completely ignored him and kept staring at me. "But there in America is good because you say one thing one day, it's true, and another the next day, it's true, too. But that's not our question."

Al sucked his teeth. In some way, Matthieu ignored the initial question but had diverted it into some pointless statement while acknowledging Al nationality to show that yes, he did in fact hear him but he just chose not to answer him.

"Oh, right," Prima remembered. Or I think she did by the way she looked like.

"What do you think? I don't know your name. Although, I believe that Prima must have mentioned it earlier."

It took me a second or two to realize that he was talking to me and I quickly gave him my name.

"Miki, good. You are in my poem. We want to know if God controls for the psychological variables in testing goodness."

. . . Woah. That was unexpected. Talk about random. That and because I don't think I've ever heard of anyone ask me such a thing, considering I'm not religious or anything.

"Assuming that you believe in God," Prima added.

"For the purposes of the moment," Matthieu continued,"you must suspend disbelief. When I went to New York last year I load my pockets with change because people are always asking for it. I give it away. But sometimes I don't feel like it_—_I don't give. I go to a cash machine, someone opens the door and jingles his cup at me. If there are twenty other people there, maybe I don't give. If I am the only one, I feel more responsible, I go out of my way to give. So now if God sends down an angel to pretend to be a bum and I give because of the added pressure of being alone, I am saved. But if I don't give_—_maybe I'm angry because my wife has left me or my dog has cancer_—_whatever the reason, now I am damned, yes? Even if I give all those other times. So you see, God is a behavioral scientist, but does He control for the other factors?"

"What if you do something wrong that nobody sees?" Al questioned.

"Ah," Matthieu quickly dismissed,"that's a different game completely."

"What do you think?" I finally asked.

He winked at me. "I think that if God exists, He is a sloppy scientist," he declared, his attention shifting upward.

"Miki!"

I jumped, nearly spilling the punch that was in my hand before I whipped around to meet a pair of emerald orbs. Leon looked incredibly worried when he saw who was close to me and took the punch out of my friends before he reached for my wrist. I crossed my arms as soon as he took the cup away and I was about to give him my hand but was intercepted by Matthieu who took it instead.

"I saw her gazing at the heavens. Something about the way she folded her arms like so said,'Pry me open!'"

"Matthieu." Leon said in a curt voice.

"She is in my poem."

"How's it coming?" he asked uncomfortably. He looked sorry that he hadn't grasped my hand when he had the chance.

Matthieu shrugged his indifference. "Some days I am brilliant. Some days, less so. It's like life."

"Right."

Leon noticed the sort of creepy-ish smile that he was giving me.

"How do you two know each other?" I managed to say, unnerved by his smiling. I mean, really, who wouldn't be?

"He's also in my poem!" Matthieu exclaimed with exaggerated vigor.

I heard Leon mumble an "Of course" before making a move to take my hand into his. That didn't go unnoticed by the former as he leaned in close between us and looked at me.

"Do you illicit drugs?" he asked finally.

My face flared up, I could tell by the way Al, Leon and the others were looking at me. "What? No!" I looked around the room, hoping that someone I knew would make an even more aggressive attempt at saving me. Which just so happen to come from Big Al. I felt like a doll when he pulled me close in between him and Prima.

"Why would you ask her that?" he shot at Matt with a warning glare.

Matt shrugged. "I only ask for my poem. I must control for everything."

Al blinked in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

Matt, for the umpteenth time that evening, ignored him and checked his watch. "Time passed, remarkable!"

I shook my head. The guy's a nutcase. How the hell did Leon, of all people, know this guy? Or, maybe he also an unfortunate soul, dragged in by either his sister or cousin who must have met this man sometime in the past, befriended him and now can't seem to shake him off. I'm sure you've had your fair share of people like that. Maybe a few in your family. I know I do.

Anyways, just as I was about to link arms with Leon to get away and allow him to whisk me away to somewhere safer and saner, Matt just had to speak again. "This is what I wonder about America," he started, eying Big Al as he said it,"and that is why she is so fascinated with the penetration of children?"

I stopped and stared at him, curious by what he meant. So was Al. "What the hell are you talking about now?"

Matt shrugged. "Every time I come to your country, there is something on the news about getting a shot for something."

"Vaccinations?" Prima offered.

"Yes, okay, vaccinations. So every time, every chance they get, they show a child getting a shot."

"So?" Al and I said in unison.

"They are obsessed with penetrating a child!"

I wasn't the only one shooting him a dubious look. So, the guy was a pervert as well, thinking of children like that. Matt looked heavenward, preparing himself, yet again, to explain something to a group of confused Europeans and an American.

"You see," he began,"they show a close-up, they linger on the needle going in, the look of agony of the child's face. The child is completely sexualized and yet you American's cannot cope with this reality, so you make it about vaccinations."

"Okay. . ." Al stretched the word out. "Are you trying to say that we want children?"

"Children are very erotic and yet only the French appreciate that eroticism pervades every aspect of life. We do not have to hide behind needles."

"You copulate in the streets?" Prima asked pointedly.

Matthieu sighed. "I am only saying we do not fear the sexual. You give something power by fearing it. This is why you lot have child molesters -"

Al rolled his eyes. "France has no child molesters?"

"Oh, we do." Matt smiled. "But they all come from America."

Prima laughed whereas Leon and I bit our lower lips. Al's face turned red and narrowed his eyes at Matt. He looked ready to tear him to shreds. Al quickly excused himself, saying something about needing to speak to Ann or someone with a name similar to that and angrily stalked away. It was then, that Matt looked back at me, and grinned. He looked pleased that he got a smile and a laugh out of this, and winked.

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><p><strong><em>xXx<em>**

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><p>I feel like a child every time at snack break. I got you an anise cookie! Here, now you can't say that I never gave you anything on your visits. So ha!<p>

Well now. . . Hmmm. . . Well, I don't really know what else to tell you. I hate it how whenever snacks get me so distracted. . . My head kinda feels a bit clearer after eating and drinking the juices that they offer me. I wonder if it was because I was hungry at the time? Do you get light headed if you don't eat frequently?

That's getting off topic again, isn't it? Well. . . I really don't know what else to say. Nothing major happened at the party after meeting Frenchie, but he did end up being funnier than I thought. But, since I was one of the last guests over, I had to help with clean up duty. And I still didn't get caught when I got back home. My parents absences from home were starting to make me worry, but I had to force myself not to over think what they could possibly had been doing at the time. It was their business, none of mine. Besides, I already had things to do the next day and the hangover certainly wasn't going to nurse itself over the weekend.

Oh yeah, I left that out, I did drink. Matt offered me some dark, bitter liquid that was pretty strong. In the end, I must have gotten used to it then, but everything then became kind of blurry and I wasn't able to think straight afterwards. I don't remember much, but I hope I hadn't done anything horrible.

That was my initial thought before I had gone to school the next day. Word travels fast about the English man holding a party for a select few and it somehow involved the insane red head. And it really didn't help that Miku helped feed the flame that ended up leading me to what I am and where I am today.

By the way, I'm sure you haven't noticed this, but you see, there are no mirrors nor windows in here. I used to have a mirror for my vanity until I shattered it, no longer wanting to see my reflection because of what, who, it reminded me off. I destroyed the mirror that used to be here with my fist. See these scars on my hand? One of the nurses had to rush over to help stop the bleeding. See the lines, the ones lighter than my skin? Here, you can feel them. They don't hurt anymore. Go on, I don't mind.

Hm? Why are you giving me that look? Do you have to leave now?

. . .Okay then. But um. . . I do like to, you know. . . Can you please come back tomorrow? . . . Please?

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><p>AN:

Miki's part is almost over, hopefully, 'cause I really, really, really want to start off with Kaito's ASAP. I don't really know how his will start off, but more than likely do the whole "when we first met. . ." kind of stuff, but of course, I would never repeat the information that you all already know unless I'm proving that his are coinciding with Miki's. I do, however, plan on making him talk more and be more detailed in his descriptions when he "speaks". So, iono, I might just have his chapters longer, depending on what mood I'm in. :I

Oh, and the thing that Matt said. . . I noticed that whenever I watch commercials about vaccinations and I couldn't help myself. Plus, he's French.

. . . *sighs* I'm already feeling so old. . . Is it bad when you're still technically still a teen and yet feel as if though you're middle aged already? ; A ; I'm seriously beginning to dislike birthdays. . .


	15. Last Chance

Miku was merciless. What I did to her had happened long ago, she should have learned to forgive. I don't believe in the "forget" part. To say that you've forgotten, to me, means that you haven't forgiven the person, that you're only letting that person slide. That, to me, does not mean that you forgive them because you must remember what they did to wrong you and if they can prove themselves in your eyes, worthy of your forgiveness, then that person is not a bad person, per se. But that is how my mind works and I can't speak for everyone.

As I was saying, Miku was a little beyond miffed when she learned that she hadn't heard about the get-together that Leon held at his place and didn't take it very well when she learned that I was actually there. Rumors grew like wildfires. Most of them weren't nice at all. It's funny, really, even now, when I remembered that I told Kai-Kai that I wasn't going to do anything when we went to High School. I wanted those last years to be quiet. But that was because I had never anticipated the thought that someone else would want him and that I'd lose him before I realized it.

Miku has a mouth on her and it showed just how fluent it could be among the students. Somehow, she found out that I had drank and slept with Matthieu. I see that look you're giving so let me explain what Leon had told me. Thankfully, he was watching me the whole time when I drank that mind numbing beverage.

Matthieu noticed that I was stiff and figured that I needed to loosen up. So, he got me to drink. Like I had previously said during your last visit, it was dark and potent and, thanks to my slight frame, it clouded my judgment almost immediately. Leon told me that he had tried to get me to talk but was unsuccessful when he saw that I was loopy and carefree. I must have sound silly. Thank the higher powers that nobody filmed me. From what I know.

Anyways, in the end, Matt got nothing and slept over at Leon's. As did I. I fell asleep next to Matt on a futon and I woke up to a horrible headache. I was surprised when a mug of black coffee was thrusted in my face. I blinked, trying to clear my mind, but the light was brutal and I flung the pillow over my eyes, nearly spilling the coffee.

"Shut the light up. . ." I moaned.

"You slept long enough, Rusty. Up and at 'em!" Came the robust reply.

I could have sworn that Lola was completely wasted last night, but I guess I was proven wrong by the way she looked and sounded. Her hair was neat, she looked clean actually, and her face was fresh with a light layer of makeup. Her vibrant red lips curled up in a smile as she wiped the loose hairs from my face and tried to help me up.

"I'm guessing it was your first time for everything!" she stated, her grin threatening to break her face. Oh, how I wished it would. . .

However, what she said confused me. "What d'ya mean first fer everthin'?" I ran my tongue over my teeth. My tongue felt numb.

Lola shrugged. "Oh, you know, partying, drinking. . . sleeping with a guy~" she chimed.

She must have noticed just how confused I looked. She sighed and rolled her eyes, free hand on her hip. "Look beside you, Rust." she snapped.

I did what she told me to and I nearly fell out of the futon. A splash of dark green peeked out from the bedsheets and I could finally tell that there was a light snoring echoing in the large room. I turned back to Lola, who held a hand over her mouth to muffle up her laughter, and I knew that my jaw was flapping open. That was easily the most uncomfortable moment that I have experienced in my life. Well, so far, from that point. In any case, I shifted uncomfortably and pulled the blanket off of me. Still fully clothed.

"Ah, so she has to check to see if she has deflowered me~" a thick voice sleepily mused.

"Matthieu?"

"She said nothing."

"Of course she wouldn't. And I bet you're disappointed, too."

"_Non_, that is where you are wrong. It is all the more satisfying when seeing Leon upset."

"You're a sadist, did you know that?"

"But of course!"

I stared back at Lola and Matt. Obviously, I could now tell who it was that knew who. It was a little awkward, and I forced myself to sit upright while taking small sips from my mug. The coffee scalded my tongue.

"I better go," I grunted and slipped on my shoes. "I-I need to make sure my parents didn't know I stayed out." I could feel a panic attack coming on upon realizing that.

Lola could see how distressed I was. "I'll drive you," she offered and went into the kitchen to search for her keys.

I turned back to face Matthieu and slightly bowed to him. "Err, thank you for not -"

"Do not do that. You are an Englishwoman, remember? Reserve that for your Oriental friends." he sniffed disdainfully.

I scowled. It was really difficult not to with that comment. "Okay, for starters, Piko is German. And he is my cousin. Another, Gumi and Lily are Filipinos. So -"

"You have to understand though that the correct classification boils down to the definition of terms. Now, if the term 'Asian' or 'Pacific Islander' refers to ethnicity, then I think both terms are misnomers. Actually, even if I concede that 'Pacific Islander' may be a little more specific than 'Asian' and conceivably acceptable as an ethnic classification, there is really no such thing as a single 'Asian' ethnicity for the simple reason that the continent of Asia is so big and so diverse. By this definition, any school child with the most elementary knowledge of geography would know the term 'Asian' would encompass many ethnicities, including, among others, the yellow-skinned North Asians, the dark-skinned South Asians, the brown-skinned Southeast Asians, as well as the Persians, the Arabs and the Turks who, by the way, also consider themselves Europeans because their country straddles the continents of Asia and Europe. In fact, it can be argued that 'Pacific Islander' is just another subset also of the Asian umbrella of ethnicities." he smoothly replied.

Since I was at a loss for words, I grabbed my coat and stormed away. His smirk seemed to resonate through the walls as Lola helped me out the door and to her car.

Luckily for me, nothing seemed to be disturbed when I walked inside of my house. Which meant that they mustn't have been at home. So I was safe. Well, until I went to school that next day.

Almost immediately, I could hear my name coming out in hushed tones over my shoulder, behind my back, you name it.

At first, I was able to ignore them. The more the day dragged out, however, it became increasingly difficult. Notes with my name scrawled on them were tossed in my direction, people snickering every time I had bent over to retrieve something, my shoes missing from my locker with other things. It wasn't until it was almost time for home when I realized that my pencil pouch was missing. I nearly lost it, looking like a mad woman, dashing in previous classrooms, asking my teachers if they've seen the blue pouch with the red lining. All I received were passive shakes of their heads, feeding my anxiety. Believe it or not, but that pouch was something that I held very dear to me.

When the halls were nearly empty, my eyes began to sting, signaling that if I didn't find that pouch soon, I was going to cry. And I really, really, _really_ didn't want to do that. So I kept at it. And at. And at it. Until I heard that saccharine laugh.

"Awww, did you misplace something, Mii-chan~?"

My head whipped around and I saw the Princess of the school, precariously dangling my pouch on a perfectly manicured white fingernail.

She noticed how happy I looked because her sweet smile changed into a mischievous grin. "Thought so," she sneered and pocketed the pouch in her bag. I would have charged at her if she was alone. But of course, she wasn't. Except I felt my heart constrict and my breath got caught in my throat when I realized who was on her right.

He and I both didn't look comfortable being there and I forced my eyes to focus on Miku and only her. That shouldn't have been an issue, but I was proven wrong the way she placed a possessive hold on his waist.

"Well, aren't you going to make a move and take it from me? From what I heard, you're actually pretty attached to this. . . piece of junk," she said, a hint of disgust evident in her tone.

My eyes flickered on Kaito for a second and he looked away when he noticed that I had looked at him. I kind of knew that he would be the type to go around, blurting out my secrets. There was no way Miku could have found out so much about me without knowing someone with some kind of inside information of some sort about me. I just didn't expect, or more than likely want to be believe, that it would come from my former best friend.

"Keep it," I spat, making a move to turn around and ignore her, doing my best to ignore that sharp pain that was piercing my heart.

Miku frowned, obviously displeased at her failed attempt to get me riled up by another one of her tricks. She didn't stay silent as her heels clicked onto the tiles and grabbed my wrist, nails digging in, and whipped me around to face her. Shamefully, I had to look up at her. Honestly, her eyes did scare me, looking that dark and empty. They looked like they were devoid of the usual cheer she gave to people in front of the cameras, eyes murky instead clear.

"Think you're some kind of hotshot, don't you? Some short, fat little freak that you are shouldn't be here," she hissed in my ear, her teeth dangerously close to biting the shell.

"What are you talking about?" My voice surprised me. I sounded pretty sure, strong, when my insides were quivering and I felt like running away.

She pulled away and smirked at me. "I'm sure you know what I mean. Thinking that finding somebody 'like you' will make you feel better about yourself? Or the fact that you had sex with some sleazy french man? The depths you'll go to fit in make me laugh." Her voice sounded child-like, innocent, as if though she didn't really know what she was saying but wanted to report it anyway thinking, knowing, that it was important.

I wrestled my hand from her grasp and rubbed the sore area. I recognized who she meant when she said french man, but having sex with him? She must have misheard.

"What are you talking about? I only stayed in the futon with him. He and I didn't do anything -"

"And how would you know? Weren't you drunk?" she spat.

I didn't know how to respond to that. I couldn't lie because, yes, I was. So then, maybe something did happen that I wasn't consciously aware and was perhaps now being told the truth? Why didn't Leon ever tell me then? Wasn't he there with me? Lola doesn't go to this school, she knew what really happened. She was there to hand her a mug of coffee!

"My guess," the banshee started,"is that you're precious gentleman never told you, did he?"

I looked up at her again, lost beyond belief. "W-what are you talking about?" I actually really, really didn't want to hear what she had to say. I wanted to run out, to get out and go home. I didn't want to go back to school anymore, not ever again. I'll be a good girl for my parents. I'll stay at home. I'll never complain again. I'll keep my back against everyone. I'll never speak again, not ever.

The way she smirked at me made my heart sink and my stomach do flips. She scared me, she really, really did.

She said a few other things, too, but I can't remember, I really can't. Everything went black after that. Well. . . I think I heard people screaming, but I wasn't sure, I didn't know then whether or not I heard anything. . . Turns out, there was screaming, but from her, again. I woke up in a small, white bed in the nurse's office. I could tell that it was because Taito was there and he was a nurse there at the time I was still there.

He normally kept a stoic disposition, but somehow, his eyes looked like they were a mixture of anger, pity, and a faint trace of sadness in those violet irises of his. I didn't know why, but I had a feeling he was going to scold me. He's about five years older than me and his two brothers. He and I rarely talked, but he knew me well enough to know what kind of a person I could be. Before I opened my mouth, he answered my questions. He said that I "went berserk and attacked Hatsune-san". And right now, my parents were speaking to the Principal.

My heart became constricted and it was difficult to breath because of the panic attack that was ready to happen. My parents have no idea that I came back. They've been missing a great deal in my days, they would have never noticed my absences, if any. Now there was proof that I didn't obey them. I changed my mind, then, I wanted to disappear. I wanted to cease existing. I envy you now, Kio, but maybe. . . just maybe. . . you could have saved me from all of this, just like you used to. . .

The ride home was nerve wracking. My parents refused to look me in the eye. I don't think I'm allowed back to school now. But that no longer mattered to me. I should have taken advantage of staying home, sheltered from all of those harsh realities. I could have been happy and safe. But I didn't and that was what had happened. I don't know if my cousin came to mind, it was his idea. I don't even know if Gumi and Lily came to mind, either. But I sure as hell know that Leon wasn't there, I made sure his face nor his name entered my head. Nevermore.

Dinner was quiet, more so than usual. I didn't eat a bite. I just pushed my food around with my fork, making it look as if though I had at least stuffed some bits and pieces into my mouth. Suddenly, my father spoke. I wasn't really listening to what he was saying, I caught a few bits here and there. It was really just him reprimanding me for what I did. But he surprised me when he said that I actually wasn't expelled. Can you believe that? Attacking her twice and still no threat of expulsion?

But he told me why.

I threw a fit, screamed at him, told him that it wasn't fair. I ran up the stairs to my room before I could let my mother get a say in anything. I slammed the door shut, threw some of my things down. I was so angry, so very, very angry. I was angry at them, at my "friends", at the school. . . and shamefully enough, at Kio. I don't know why, but the moment I thought of him, my eyes wandered to my mirror and. . . Oh god, I don't know why, I really don't, didn't, won't ever know why, but it doesn't change it at all from what I did.

I shattered the poor thing, it belonged to my great grandmother, used the shards to throw back at it, cutting my hands in the process. I screamed and yelled until my voice had wasted away before crumpling onto the floor, crying. I didn't care that my hands had soiled the cream rug with my blood, I didn't care that my tears left marks on it either. I tried to wipe them away, but I made my face messy in doing so. I was scaring myself, really. I didn't know who I was anymore.

. . . You shouldn't have done that. You didn't have to, you know. I already told you that he wanted me, he wanted the little girl. Why did you leave me there and lie to me that you'd come back? I miss you, you know. Why did you leave me? You knew mommy and daddy would never understand, but you did it anyway. . .

. . . I-I'm sorry, I don't want to sound rude or anything, but don't come anymore, don't ever come back. I'm tired, just so tired of everything. . . I-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. . .

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><p>AN:

Finally starting about Kaito next chappie~! Finally, I decided that I had enough about writing through Miki's POV, so I decided to call it off from here. Pffft, this Drabble fic must be pretty confusing by now, I don't really know how this is gonna tie up in the end, but I guess it'll come when it does. XD I promise it won't be a hundred chapters though. I'm sure of it. Maybe. . . about thirty, since Miki talked a lot? /*shot

Well, review if you want. ^^


	16. Reminiscence

A/N:

Here you go! I ended up deciding to go on ahead and do his part since it looked necessary to do so. He's going to be more descriptive (hopefully) when he "speaks" to you.

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><p>I've been told that you've been visiting Miki for quite some time now. I don't know what she's told you so, but hopefully, I can give you some new information, a few things that she hasn't told you. Knowing her, she more than likely left open a few gaps for you to try and think to fill in. That's alway been a bad habit from her, but it isn't like I can help it. I digress, since she's started from the very beginning, then so will I. I'm sorry to say, but I don't have photographic memory like she does, so I'm going to tell you as much as I can remember. Since you look surprised, yeah, she's always had that. She can remember anything spot on, if you ask nicely, but there are times where she likes to keep specific pieces of information to herself.<p>

Let's see now. . . I was about. . . Four years old when we first met. Her dad is, well was, a good friend of my dad when they were younger. My dad is eight years his major, however, but age didn't matter to them or anything, so they got along relatively well. Regardless, she and I would have ended up being friends, or at least we would have become grudging acquaintances. I only say it like that because I could tell from her face back then, when my parents dragged me along to meet her, that she didn't seem all that happy to see that she did have a neighbor around her age. I actually wasn't all that keen on being her friend either since she looked scary. Don't tell her I said tha— Oh it doesn't matter, she probably knew that, too.

As I was saying, our fathers were well acquainted until my father left for Japan, roughly eight years before I was born. He came to England to study abroad for his Business major and that was where he met her father. Kiyoteru is a native of the City of Canterbury, a place located in the southern regions of England, in the county of Kent. He originally came to study to become a math teacher but was persuaded to pursue something more "worthwhile". He changed his major, from Education to Business, and proceeded to follow in my dad's footsteps and all that. My dad never really said much about his early years, especially whenever I ask him about Miki's parents. However, I do know that Kiyoteru wasn't that pleased with the program but wanted to keep in touch. So, he doubled up on his majors to have Education and Business. He had some kind of logic, but I don't know.

After my dad graduated from there did he decide to help Kiyoteru out. For some reason, he likes to view himself as some kind of Good Samaritan and whatnot, that the second he received the call from Kiyoteru to let him know that he had finished, he had somehow gotten him a position to be a High School teacher in, what is now called, Hirakawa. He figured that because the climate was similar to his home town he wouldn't have to go through the issues of being homesick. Plus, Kiyoteru didn't really have any excuses. He already knew a fair amount of Japanese and understood the geography of the country, courtesy of my dad. So, just after fifty seven minutes of leaving the University of Kent, he found himself booked for first class to KMJ-Kumamoto airport. It was during his teachings, that he met his—then future—wife.

My dad had a front row seat to all of this "mess". Luka Megurine, known by all as the quiet and studious type, spoke only when spoken to, and the kind of person who had impeccable work ethic. But nobody knew that she had written on her résumé that she was also a cake eater. Kiyoteru knew another side to Luka and tried to brush her off. He would complain to my father about her—how she always turned her work late, how she didn't seem to be paying attention to the lesson on hand, all of the subtle ways she did to try and get close to him. He admitted that he must have been the world's biggest idiot when he noticed that her grade in his class was slipping and offered her private, after school tutoring. With him being her tutor. For the first week, my dad got to laugh at the endless tactics Luka had done to win Kiyoteru's heart. Like the time she slipped the room key in her top after locking the door to get him to put his hand in there to get it back. Or the time she grew aggressive and tackled him to a desk. He narrowly escaped that one. Luki Megurine somehow kept an "A" in his class, despite being an average student. And I can't forget to mention the time that she had actually brought a whip into his classroom before he came in (with those pesky keys of course) and tried to "whip him into to shape to become a man". If anything, in a nutshell, Miki's a lot like her mom when she was younger.

Kiyoteru had had enough of her and within the first semester, he was ready to leave and go back home. When word spread around, he noticed that Luka had tremendously calmed herself down, but he knew what she was getting at and that his mind was made up. The day he didn't appear for class was also the day Luka had followed him to the airport, along with my dad. She had her ticket in one hand, a suitcase in the other, and a backpack filled with all of the things she wasn't going to leave behind. Speechless and a little miffed that she convinced his best friend to follow him, it took him a while to finally speak to the two of them. Right before he walked into his terminal did Luka run up and face him. She gave him a list of reasons on why she was doing this and why she had to bribe my dad to take her there. She even got him to tell her which city he was heading off to. In the end, after arguing for almost thirty minutes, he caved in when, not only did he realized that he only had four minutes left, my dad told him that he'd be a lucky man to have a beautiful, loud, and outspoken young woman to be his.

Luka was ecstatic. They were off and lived in London, she continued her studies at a University, and surprised Kiyoteru with how fluent she was in English. Kiyoteru was twenty-four when he quit his first real job and Luka was only eighteen when she left her home in Japan and when she became pregnant with their first child. My dad has pictures of her and pulls them out sometimes, along with pictures of just him and Kiyoteru, to remember the times when they were good. Or more accurately, before Akaito, Miki and I were born. When the baby girl was only a week old and three days old, she had died of unexpectantly in her crib when her parents were sleeping. She had dark hair and eyes, like her dad, and because of the season she was named Yuki. To make it all the more appropriate, just minutes later after her birth, it snowed.

My dad thinks that because of that, his friends became irrational. Now, my dad doesn't understand what it's like to lose children, especially since at that time my mother had already had my brothers Daito, Kikaito, and Zeito. He did as much as he could to try and calm them down, but they either were too upset to listen or just flat out ignored them. He almost gave up on them during one phone call they had and suggested on whether or not to live in the countryside or something. You know, a more peaceful sort of scenery to help ease the pain.

So they settled for Purbeck. They bought a small house and befriended the neighbors. They grew close to them and I'm sure that my dad gave himself a pat on the back when he received a phone call from them, telling them their thanks. Because Kiyoteru was still a little wary of teaching again, he decided to go ahead and join some kind of business dealing with cars, I think. It proved profitable, even though he had to get up extremely early to head out. But if it bothered Luka, she didn't tell him. She seemed content enough talking and visiting the neighbors and getting to know them better.

Well, I'm pretty sure you're taking all of this in. You haven't taken a break from writing so I guess it's safe to assume that she actually said little, right? Eh, I kinda figured that she would do something like that, she hasn't been much of a talker lately. . . Pffft, I was so busy telling you about her parents that I never said a word about how I really met her, didn't I? Sorry about that, eh heh heh. . .

Let's see. . . Like I said earlier and from what she said, we were both four years old, her dad had to come back because he got offered a job from the same company as my dad's, we introduced ourselves. . . Uhhh, I just remember the part where she asked if we could be friends and I got really, really happy and invited her over to my house to play. Okay, now I've got something to work with then.

When we reached my place, I just realized that I had no friggin' clue what kinds of games girls liked. I mean, yeah, I offered to let her play in the treehouse, but I didn't think I had any toys that she would have liked that were up there. It was one of those rare days in my early life when I actually walked out and got some sun. Except I was forced to come, but whatever. It wasn't any better when I realized that we were alone and that she was looking at me expectantly. If I knew how to pull a rabbit out of a hat, I would have done that to distract her from looking at me like that. She actually scowled at me and placed her skinny hands on her tiny waist.

"So?"

I blinked. "S-so wha— Ow!"

She flicked my forehead. She actually flicked me! The new girl, on my yard, flicked my forehead. And I didn't know what to do. Sure, I could have pushed her or flicked her back, but then I remembered that yeah, even though she doesn't act like it, she is a girl and boys can't hit girls 'cause that's just plain mean. So all I did was gape at her and rub my forehead.

"Wh-why'd you do that for?"

" 'Cause your forehead looks flickable," she said in a know-it-all kind of voice.

And that was the start of a beautiful, yet dysfunctional, friendship. Now, it really wasn't all that bad, I did lo—like having her around since she was pretty much the only person I was comfortable talking to outside of my house. A few minutes after she first laid a hand—finger—on me, Akaito came out yawning and his hair messy. It was already two in the afternoon and he had just woken up. He blinked in confusion several times before pointing at Miki.

"Hey, there's a girl right next to you."

"No duh, Sherlock."

Akaito opened his mouth to retort, but then he didn't. He and I exchanged the same kind of look to each other.

"Who's Sherlock?"

Miki sighed and shook her head. It was the first of many English facts that we would ask her. She always acted angry whenever she said something and then we'd have to ask what she meant but when it came time to explain, she seemed to almost keep her nose high and would have this smug look on her small face. Even though she acted a little snobby to us, she turned out to be pretty fun after Akaito finally woke up and when she started giving us a list of games that we could play that she did back home with her other friends.

We killed three hours alone when my parents finally came back home. Miki was the first to spot them.

"Hello again, Mr. and Mrs. Shion!" she called out.

"Oh, hello Mi— What in heaven's name are you doing? !" my mom squawked.

Akaito and I got down from the tree that we were hanging onto and looked at her with confused looks. What was so wrong with climbing? I mean, yeah, I was kind of scared to, but Miki made sure that I put my feet in the right places and kept a tight grip on my hand. That and Akaito was there to help her and he, like her, was an expert tree climber.

Miki looked just as confused as us. "Um, I'm just hanging around," she replied.

My mother's face turned a bright shade of pink. "B-but y-you're— For goodness sakes, have some decency! Don't show those to my boys!"

Akaito and I turned around to see what the hell she was talking about, but she hugged us close and tried to cover our eyes. Akaito was more verbal than me about his discomfort.

"Whatcha talkin' 'bout? She's got nothin' bad on her!"

I heard Miki's feet touch the ground and I heard some fabric rustling. "Ya mean my skirt? I'm wearing shorts underneath. I'm not showing them my panties." I think I could hear her pout.

Akaito stopped fighting long enough to ask the same question that I was thinking that wasn't going to be answered until the next time we saw her.

"Hey, what's a panties?"

Mom whisked us away and brought us inside. She scolded us and told us to be careful around her and that she should have realized that Miki wasn't a nice little girl after all. After she angrily walked out, Akaito and I looked outside and saw our dad talking to her. She looked a little confused before nodding. He smiled and took her hand to take her back home. When he came back a few minutes later, he smiled and chuckled. "I knew I made the right choice in letting Luka come into my car to take her to the airport."

He didn't say anything else after that because then he started walking off towards his room, but not before telling us over his shoulder,"You be good to her you two!"

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><p>AN:

I wanted to add Yuki only because I JUST remembered about her. |D So I gave her a small scene in here. Gosh, that was a lot of information and Googling for those places. XDD

So, what do you think? Did any of you learned a bit more about Miki than from what you thought? Did he explain a bit or did he confuse you even more? Is he clear and concise when he "talks"?

Okay, I should have done this when I wrote the first chapter, buuuuut, yeah, I didn't soooo~ OTL

Chapter Data: Word Count- 2,714. Total Editing Time- approx. 118 minutes and 27 seconds.

I'm in love with that stopwatch feature in my phone. *u*


	17. Curiosity Should Have Killed the Cat

A/N:

Another Chappie! I'm starting to have a little more free time on my hands, which is great for me, so I hope to get started on my other fics soon, again. And I had about thirty minutes before class and there might be a few mistakes. That and I no time to work on _Secrets Best Left Unsaid_, but I'm halfway finished with the new chapter. It should be posted up in a day or so.

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><p>Miki was never one to admit her flaws. One of her most prominent flaws had to be her temper. Another would be that she's also naive. And that she's bossy. And that chocolate should be banned from eating forever. There's more, a lot more, but I don't think she told you anything like that about me, so I'll keep the rest to my self. But this is probably something that you must have noticed about her. She was gullible, to boot. She would always, always, believe what people said, without question. She took everything at face value. I don't remember how often I had to tell her that she doesn't have to always listen to everything people told her. There were times when her opinion mattered more than theirs and that she probably had a better idea of how things went. She'd scoff at me and told me that you always had to obey what others told you, because if you didn't then they would never come back.<p>

"I'm waiting for somebody to come back to me," she told me one day on an Indian Summer in November. We were seven at the time, busy lapping up ice cream that melted and that was dribbling down our sticky hands. Of course, she had cherry even though she didn't like that feel of ice cream, and I was trying a new flavor, strawberry cheesecake.

"Who?"

"Just a boy back home. He told me to stay and I did. But he never came back to me because when my parents found me they took me away, even after I yelled and told them no. And since I didn't listen to him, he never came back."

I wanted to say "That's stupid" or "People don't just stop coming because you don't obey them", but what would I know? Miki had proved herself time and time again of being right most of the time and with parents that told her pretty much anything that she wanted to know, it would have been blasphemy if I went against her word.

"What kind of boy?"

"A boy's a boy, stupid!" she snapped.

Naturally, I flinched. When she knew that I wasn't going to say anything else to add to that, she turned back around and payed attention on making sure that her scoop didn't fall. A couple minutes of silence passed by us until I remembered something. "But. . . You're here and he's supposed to be there, right? Does he even know you left?"

She stopped cold and glared at me. "Don't you get it? When my parents picked me up and took me away, he was never going to come back again!"

At the time, I didn't know who or what about the boy that made him so important to her. And honestly, I didn't really care that much. Miki sometimes made a big deal out of little things, so I didn't dwell on that for too long. I didn't think anything of it when she didn't speak to me for a long while, but when she ran to my other brothers, like Akaito, Taito and Mokaito, I did get a little miffed with her. She really didn't have to ignore me because I asked something like that, but I did know what kind of a person she was, even then.

She talked to them for a good while until the sky became freckled with stars before coming back to me with a smile on her face. She either forgave me or forced herself to forget what I said earlier. I've always suspected it to be the latter.

"Why don't you come over and play with your brothers?" She'd always ask while she'd plop herself next to me on the swings.

"I live with them. I always play with them." I'd tell her.

She'd nod her head before looking up at the sky. We'd sit in silence for a while before turning our heads around when we heard a twig snap.

"It's kinda late, you two. Your mom wants you back, Miki."

She'd turn her back to Akaito and ignore him. He was used to this treatment and would wordlessly walk up to us and sit with us, Miki always being in the middle. That night wasn't any different as he slipped into the seat and began to swing his legs, keeping a steady gaze in Miki's direction.

"See that?" she had said.

We both looked up and tried to see where her finger was pointing at.

"See those three stars right there?" she started again. Then she'd bring us close together and press our faces against hers. "The ones that're together? Those three bright stars in a line? That's Orion's Belt."

"Orion's Belt?"

She'd nodded at my question. "Orion is a Greek Hunter in mythology. Those three make up his belt. They're also called _Las Tres Marías_ in Spanish. My father told me so," she stated matter-of-factly. "And don't they kind of remind you of us? You know, the way we're sitting right now?" After that she'd let us go so that we were free to admire it if we wanted to and to think about what she said.

Stargazing was actually one of our favorite things to do, even during the cold seasons. There was something compelling about watching them, knowing that on the other side of the world, on the opposite hemisphere, other people were watching a different set of stars. That and the fact that some of them are other worlds, like ours. We're a star too, maybe, for other life beings out there. And the fact that there are also dead planets that are billions of light years away from us that still shine bright over here because the fact that they're gone still hasn't reached us yet. Their light still shines on to us.

That was the sort of thing we'd talk about on most nights. Miki made it a competition between her and Akaito to see who could find the most constellations before the three of us would get in trouble for staying out for too long. Or whenever it was obvious one of them would win, they'd swap opponents, meaning me. I never did have a good memory for that, even with Miki lightly elbowing me and using her chin to point to several. Until Akaito would pinch her for cheating. Then that was when the two spitfires got physical.

If I didn't stop the fighting, then it would be our dad who would and then he'd laugh and smile before patting Miki's head and take her back home. Akaito was always sore whenever she left, complaining how they hadn't finished business.

There were times were people, including me, thought that maybe those two would end up together when they got older. Honestly, I didn't like admitting that, but it felt like it held a ring of truth in it. They were so alike and looked similar with their fiery hair and blood red eyes and the fact that their personalities were almost identical didn't help much. But if it wasn't Miki shooting those rumors down, it was my brother. He swore that he would never, ever, let himself become enraptured with a girl like her or loose his head and do crazy things for her.

Until we saw the Akita siblings.

Back then, I was perfectly fine with Nero. He did have his moments where he was a bit pushy and rude to Miki, my siblings and I, but overall he was alright. But then again, he was eleven back then and had yet to meet Dell. He hadn't moved in yet with his sister, but that doesn't matter right now.

This was about a week after Miki stargazed with me and Akaito at our place and we were playing in her backyard with her parents supervising us. Well, _kind_ of.

"I bet you I'd go a whole week without my cellphone if those two can't keep that up for another two minutes."

At a young age, it was a mystery to us on how Miki's parents relationship worked. They weren't really like the rest of the neighborhood kids' parents. They were pretty affectionate to each other in public and there were times, like at that moment, where they weren't ashamed to demonstrate.

Akaito and Neru were betting on Miki's parents to see if they could last any longer doing what they were doing. Neru was betting her phone privileges and Akaito was betting that he'd become Neru's personal "pet". I'd be lying if I said that the rest of us weren't interested in how that worked.

"Holy crap! They just stay stuck together like that for about three minutes! How does your parents do i-"

"They're still at it!"

I think Akaito and Neru were the ones that were easily surprised to the point where they forgot their little bet.

Miki shrugged. "How the heck if I'm supposed to know?" she demanded with a small frown.

Neru turned to glare at her. "Then maybe you should find out how," she quipped before flicking her blonde hair behind her back. I think she was using her phone to record the whole thing. I wonder if she still has that. . . My eye twitched, didn't it? Yeah, I don't think you'd like the idea of somebody filming your best friend's parents making out, now would you? I kinda figured.

Everybody, but Neru of course, was confused on what she meant with that comment. She groaned and face palmed at our naivety. Well—for the record—Miki, Akaito and I had an excuse, we were only seven. Nero on the other hand. . . I somewhat had this idea that maybe anybody over the age of ten would know, but I guess that only works for a handful. Nero must been part of the minority.

"Well duh, I mean you should kiss somebody to find out!"

We all must have shared the same look. "And why can't you find out for her?" I asked.

Neru looked ready to deck me. " 'Cause you and your brother are still babies and Nero's my brother and that's just _gross_." she spat. "And since Miki's your age and not much younger than my brother, it's perfectly fine for her to find out for us. Plus, I'm a girl so there's no way it's gonna work between me and her," she finalized.

If I'd known that Neru was preserving her lips for Len, whose considered a "baby", then I would have asked Miki and Nero to help force her onto Akaito. But even with parents as lenient as Miki's, I don't think it would have settled well with them.

"So, who's willing to do this experiment?" The beleaguer snapped us back to attention, her aurous eyes scanning us expectantly.

Just when I thought she was gonna lose her patience and thrash us, we were greeted with a surprise of our young lives.

"I'll do it."

Akaito walked up in front of Miki before turning back to her parents. He frowned. "It doesn't look hard. And besides, Kaito and Nero are just standing there catching flies with their mouths open like that."

I was too astonished to care about what he had said about me because my mind was too focused on what he was going to do with her. I think we all knew, especially Neru, that what they were going to do was incredibly. . . intimate. My stomach and throat tightened at the thought and I my head felt heavy. I didn't understand why I was having a hard time breathing. And I'm pretty sure you can guess why, right?

Neru, on the other hand, squealed. "So cuhu~ute!" She whipped her phone away from Kiyoteru and Luka and focused it on the two redheads.

Nero wrinkled up his nose. "You're such a pedo, Neru."

"Am not!" she weakly retorted. "And don't you say another word, I want these two to get on with it."

Akaito shrugged. "Fine, if you say so."

Miki nodded before turning to look at her parents one last time. "Hmmm, okay then. . . Akaito, tilt your head to the left."

"Gotcha."

_Th-they're gonna do it?_ I remember feeling horrified, disgusted. . . And a heaping helping of jealousy with a side of anger. I didn't know why I felt like that, but it got worse when they closed their eyes, doing their best to mimic them, and leaned into each other until they were a breath away that I finally spoke up.

"H-hold on!"

Maybe I was a bit louder than necessary, but it did stop them and caused the Akita siblings to turn around. They all stared at me expectantly and it took me a while to realize that they were waiting for me to talk.

My brother rolled his eyes. "What do you want? Why were you screaming like a girl?"

. . . Yeah, I must have been pretty loud then.

I chewed on my lower lip, trying my best to come up with a valid reason, one that would make them realize that this whole thing was stupid and that it was out of line for any of us to try to do.

"She doesn't like you."

My almighty, perfectly epic reason that Miki shouldn't lock lips with my brother.

He raised a skeptic brow. "Oh yeah? What does that have to do with all of this?" he demanded.

Miki also seemed to agree with him with that small frown on her face. "Oh yeah? What if I don't like him? We're just gonna try this out and -"

"Your parents like each other. Every adult I've seen kiss each other 'cause they like them. So you should do that to somebody you actually like," I stated. It was what I could come up with and I already knew that Miki also wasn't fond of Nero, so I had assumed that we were all safe.

Or wrongly assumed had been more like it.

"She likes you."

I stared at her long and hard. Ayyy Neru. I still hate her, just so you know. But I did get myself into that mess.

I rapidly shook my head. "No she doesn't!" I protested. If only Miki understood why I acted like that, then I'm sure that we would have prevented all of that awkwardness and then we'd all go our separate ways and forget about doing such a thing. But she's always been a curious kind of girl.

"But we all want to know how it is, Kai-Kai. And keep your mouth shut because if I really did have a choice between you three boys, then I would have to say you. You're the least annoying."

"B-but curiosity killed the cat!"

"And satisfaction brought it back," she quipped with a wide grin on her face.

I remember sighing, then. I knew she was going to keep going with comebacks and we'd argue the whole day and she still would have a better chance than me. So I gave up and let her have her way, as usual.

Neru gave us a creepy smile before lifting her phone up again. "Do it now, my battery's dying," she snapped at us.

Miki rolled her eyes while I nervously chewed my lower lip. _This is bad, this bad, this is really, really bad. . . What if they see us? This doesn't feel right, not at all, not at all. Okay, Miki's fast and Neru's punches hurt, but if I can just push Nero down to distract them, I could use Miki's trampoline and hope that I'm light enough to jump over her fen—_

"—to! Kaito, are you even listening to me?"

"E-eh?"

Miki slapped her forehead with her hand and grumbled under her breath before slapping her hands on the sides of my face and forcing me to look at her. "I said come on, look at me!"

It was kind of hard not to when she held my face like that. And don't you dare say a thing about this outside of this room, all right? All right. . .

Well, I guess she could tell that I was nervous because she suddenly let her arms hang limply on her sides. She let out an exasperated sigh before glancing at Neru. "I don't want to do this anymore. None of these boys look like they'd do it right, anyway." she said with a tone of indifference.

I'll skip what Neru said to Miki and just go on about how she snatched Nero's hand and angrily stalked off back to her home. I sighed in relief before risking a peek at Miki to see her reaction. I couldn't read her face but she turned around and waved us off.

"You two should be getting back home, too. I think it's close to your supper time."

"Yeah, guess you're right," my brother agreed. "I don't think I want Mom having a fit about us being late. I'll catch ya later, Mii-chan."

He didn't bother to check and see I was following him because he was already off and running five blocks down the sidewalk. There was an uncomfortable silence going on between Miki and me now that we were alone. I was expecting her to yell at me and order me out like she did with the others. But she didn't as she calmly looked at Akaito's receding figure and kept staring at him even after he was long gone. I made a move to get going myself when I heard her sharp voice stop me cold in my tracks.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

"I-I was gonna follow Akaito h-home. . ."

She sharply turned on a heel so that she could look me straight in the eye. I'll admit, she's intimidating when she wants to and I wanted nothing more than to drop dead and let the squirrels drag my limp body into a tree hole. But of course, I don't usually get what I want. She held her gaze a bit longer than necessary as she made her point crystal clear. Then she surprised me.

"It's about time they left."

I looked at her in mild shock.

"H-how come?"

" 'Cause it was obvious that they were making you nervous with their staring," she said in that same know-it-all kind of voice.

That was something that I should have realized when she first held my gaze like that. She must have known that I was worried about her and played along for a bit. And then when she thought that the time was right, she shooed them away. For the first time that day, I gave her a genuine grin and patted her back.

"Thanks Miki. You're the be—"

"But I still wanna try it."

. . . Then comes the little monkey on a unicycle banging some cymbals while saying "Awkwa~ard!"

"U-uhh, w-well, I-I'm sorry if I don't know who else you cou—"

"Quit being a baby and just close your eyes. I wanna see if we can hold out as long as Mother and Father." she firmly started, her hands on her waist.

Again, I sighed. She wasn't going to let this go. I nervously shifted my eyes and checked our surroundings. After everything that had happened, her parents still had no clue what was going on. Or maybe they did and they were choosing to ignore us. That could have been it, but I can't say for sure.

"Fine. . . B-but if you bite me—"

"Does it look like it involves biting?"

"N-no, but—"

"Then man up, will you!" she yelled in my face.

I squeaked (how manly of me) in response. "Y-yes ma'am!"

We both took a deep breath to steel our nerves before looking at each other. Since she and I were the same height at that point, it didn't make a difference about leaning in so all we had to do was tilt our faces in the opposite direction, which was something that I couldn't do.

"Dang it, Kaito!" she cried when she was fed up. She used her thumb and forefinger to grab my face and forced it to tilt onto the left while she did on the right and connected our faces.

I know I really shouldn't have done this, but I did, and I opened up my eyes. I thought I was going to die when a neighbor opened their door and saw what we were doing. She gave us an impish smile, like as if though she sent us a promise to never reveal our secret as she slowly closed the door. The creeper.

What felt like an eternity when in reality must have lasted mere seconds, we parted. We were actually breathless and the fear and uncertainty faded away after the woman left. But we were full of questions when she offered to walk me home.

"How do they do that for so long?"

"I don't really know. I think I saw them open up their mouths a few times."

"Really?"

"Mhm. My mother did it first and that was when it lasted longer, too."

"You think maybe they have to take a deep breath and then blow it in each others faces?"

"Maybe."

"Think we should try that next time?"

"Like my father says, we'll see."

We were already at the front of my house when she said that. We stood there for a while, thinking some more. In all honesty, I didn't feel different after doing that. I didn't even remember why I had made such a fuss about it in the first place.

"Well, I have to go back home. See ya tomorrow, Kai-Kai."

I almost forgot to wish her good bye and for her to be careful because I was too caught up in my thoughts. I stayed out a little while longer to make sure she had walked away before walking inside. When I went into my room, Akaito was ready and waiting on my bed with a wicked grin on his face.

"So, what took ya so long?"

"Miki and I were talking."

" 'Bout what?"

"About some stuff."

"Li~ike. . .?"

"Just some stuff."

He looked a bit skeptical. "So you guys didn't try it?"

"Try what?" I was doing my best to feign confusion, but he saw right through it.

"Drop the act and just tell me: did you or did you not kiss Miki?"

"And what if I did?" I was feeling a little bold.

He rolled his eyes. "Stop the act. I'm sure you two did. There's no way you guys could have taken that long talking. Lemme guess, it was about cherries and ice cream and how they make the greatest flavor in the world, right?" he mocked.

I took a deep breath. "Akaito, nothing happened between us, okay? Now why don't you just go to your room and torture Nigaito, okay?" I said, already too tired to fight with him any longer.

"Yeah, whatever." he spat and hopped off of my bed.

Just as he passed by me, he smirked and leaned close to my ear and whispered, "Vista called. Lucky for you mom and dad aren't here and that I picked up the phone. But don't worry, your secret's safe with me~"

Now, here's the moral of the story: Never, ever, let your best friend kiss you in front of her nosy neighbor's house or your twin brother can and will use it against you to make your life hell. At least it took me several years to realize, and finally admit, that Miki really was my first for almost everything.

You look surprise by how calm I am telling you all of this. Well, it's all in the past and I'm sure that Miki's done her part to forget about that little tidbit. She got what she wanted and she didn't say another thing about that subject. And neither did I. That was just something that she and I wanted to find out about and that was that. Now, please excuse me, I have somebody else that I'd like to talk to.

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><p>AN:

Another personal memory of my own that I implanted here. You're free to think of which one was of personal experience, however. :3

Word Count- 4,416. Total Editing Time- approx. 68 minutes and 58 seconds.


	18. I Don't Remember Signing Up for This!

/N:

I didn't really have any ideas. No sleep for two days is a big no-no. OTL Ah well, I don't feel bad at all. I actually feel really jittery, like as if though I just had 5 cups of coffee. XD

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><p>There hasn't been another person that I've known in my life who could make friends the way Miki could. Beating the respect into them.<p>

To us, Dell was a computer brand name, not an actual name given for a strict, coarse and, sometimes, cruel eleven year old with silver hair and demonic red eyes. Dell Honne moved into the neighborhood on August the twelfth and lived about ten minutes away from my home. But he lived two houses away from Miki. His parents are divorced and his father had sole custody over him at the time, along with his half sister Haku Yowane, who's three years older than him.

I could tell right away I wasn't going to like him. I didn't like the way he narrowed his eyes at others, almost as if though he was inspecting them, as if trying to see if they were deemed worthy of being in his presence. So it made sense that he'd snuff out the shy boy and the insane chick.

He's also a fighter. Before he had mastered the "forbidden" language and turned it into his mother tongue, he used his bare hands to send fear into our hearts. And it didn't take much to send us scurrying away. He had my brother and Miki beat when it came to intimidation. It was almost as if though he could see right through you and wasn't afraid to pick at even the tiniest detail so that he could use it against you. He loved making people squirm.

I've lost track of the times Miki had to make excuses for him, trying to explain why he acted the way he did whenever I wanted to leave when he was around. Even though Miki's mind itself isn't what we'd call "stable", she had a good concept of psychology and tried her best to educate me about acceptance and that he must have been "a lonely boy" and that I should at least make an effort to befriend him. That was what her mom had studied before they moved to Purbeck after losing Yuki. Kiyoteru went back to school and did the same so that he could try to find methods on trying to calm his nerves. After that, he became a school counselor for a while while Luka became a licensed children's psychologist. But then they gave it up for business and to own their own flower shop, respectively, before closing the shop down.

Even though Miki's heart was in the right place, I couldn't forgive him for the times he's hurt her. Sure, we were young and children are cruel, but ordering other kids to leave the playground because it "belonged" to him and that he wasn't afraid to give anybody a good thrashing, didn't make it any less right for him to beat a girl. Even if Miki had one-upped him more times than I'm sure he'd care to admit.

The final straw came when Miki and I were nine and our moms wanted to spend some time talking to each other about pointless things at the local playground. Miki had been trying to coax me to go down the slide by myself, but it had a lot of built up static and I hated feeling the stings and then having to fuss over my hair and clothes to pat them down. Then she made a good point in saying that her hair was longer and thicker and that if there was enough of it then her dress would poof up. When she was in a good mood, she was just as funny as her mom when she makes those exaggerated facial expressions and hand gestures. So she took it as a win when she got me to laugh after she puffed up her rosy cheeks and curved her arms to look like a hippo and then turned her hair into a rats nest.

Once I had finally came back down, Miki gave up and wrapped her arms around my waist, we had a race to the swings, which she won. But then our fun had to end when we heard that snide voice and I probably would have found myself having wood chips in my mouth if it wasn't for the fact that Miki was quick enough to catch me. Miki and I both turned around to see the devil's spawn in front of us and I jerked upright and hid behind her. Dell had only hurt me twice and I wasn't in the mood to go for thirds. I tried to convince Miki to go to the other side of the park and play there. But she would have none of that as she firmly placed her hands on her hips and spread her legs open to stand her ground. Personified Stubborness, is what she is. I reached for her hand to pull her away and she smacked it. I didn't have time to nurse my hurt hand when she turned and glared at Dell, telling him to sod off and to go inside of a ditch that some construction workers had made when they were still doing add-ons to the park.

Dell had laughed and mocked me for having my "girlfriend" do all of the fighting and that ticked her off. It shouldn't have been a surprise, really, when she ran towards him like a chicken with its head cut off and started beating his face in with her tiny fists of fury. Normally, Dell would have never been caught off guard like that, but Miki was the first girl he'd face that actually fought back. She was screaming like a Banshee and I had a hard time believing that our moms hadn't heard her. Or any other adult in particular.

Their tussle didn't last long because Mikuo knocked Miki off of Dell while Nero and Ron were trying to pry her off instead. I always told myself that if I wasn't such a coward and if I had known that Mikuo was actually going to give Miki a bruise on her cheek, I would have joined in too to help her. But my legs refused to obey me and I just stayed rooted at the spot, watching while she took all of the hits.

Even though one of them had stepped on her nice pink dress and tore off some of the lace - really, what kind of a mom makes their daughter wear something like that at a park? - and that she had a bruise as big as a ping pong ball, Miki was satisfied. She gave Dell a bloody nose and that sent him and his friends running. Unfortunately, it was short-lived because once our moms had finally decided that it was high time to check up on us, they saw the damage that had happened and Luka scolded Miki for ruining such a pretty dress with her rough housing. My mom, of course, blamed Miki when her mom wasn't there for sullying my shirt. She didn't want to listen to me explain that it had nothing to do with her.

You see, my mom has a very strong. . . dislike towards Miki. She believes that she's the Devil's child because of her attitude, lack of manners, speech pattern, and for her sense of style. Miki was known for pretty much stealing mine and Akaito's clothes so that she could change into them before going out to play. She said that boys clothes had more freedom and felt nicer than girls.

My mom was disgusted with her. That's why Miki didn't meet Kaiko until years later because she believed that Miki would have been a horrible influence for her. Honestly, I think she was just jealous of Luka.

Luka had two girls, technically, and she was constantly reminded by my father that Miki had inherited her mother's looks, except for assets, but said that she was almost a carbon copy of her by personality, smarts, and laughter. Luka has a sweet, throaty kind of laugh that has other men develop a yearning to hear it again. Miki has a laugh just like that, albeit raspy, but I think it's because of that she sounds more. . . mature, than what her mother did. Even though she's a tiny thing, as she got older - whenever she was in her right mind and had decided to exchange pants and t-shirts for bermuda shorts and a tank top - some people couldn't help but look at her. I'm not sure on whether or not it really is because she has her mom's face, cheekbones, and tsurime eyes or her dad's taste in clothes (only in the shades of bruises as Luka says), bluntness, and maturity when the situation called for it.

After the bruise had vanished and Dell's nose got its regular color back, he went looking for us the next time we were at the park. Miki tensed up and prepared herself in case he came too close or acted as if he was going to lay a hand on us when he tossed a small red and silver soccer ball at her.

She caught it and eyed it curiously before giving up and looking up at him in confusion.

"I heard you're British," he stated with his arms folded across his chest.

"So what if I am?" she snapped and thrusted the ball back into his arms.

He winced but didn't make another move or sound of discomfort. "Then you've gotta be good at futbol, then."

Miki narrowed her eyes at him. "That's so stereotypical."

I didn't know what the word meant at the time, but Dell obviously did when he smirked at her. "Well, are you gonna play or not?" he demanded.

Miki backed up a bit to create some distance between them before looking him over. ". . .This isn't some kind of trick, is it?"

He shrugged, making us both suspicious of his intentions. When he noticed that we didn't budge, he tried again, but his voice held the sharp edge of impatience. "Either choose to come and play with me, Nero, Ron, and Mikuo, or lay off and play with your girly friend."

"Hey! I resent that!" I remembered hearing Kikaito saying something like that once when Zeito, Taito and Daito found him spreading curry all over his lemon flavored cotton candy. I still had no idea what it meant when I said it, but it seemed appropriate to say.

Apparently not when Dell just raised a brow and then rolled his eyes at me. Jerk. After that, he completely ignored me and then lightly patted Miki's shoulder to get her attention again. I was kind of hoping that she'd get ticked off that he touched her, but she didn't and just shrugged. "I'll only go and play with you on one condition, though," she warned.

Dell took the ball back from her. "Shoot."

"Kai-Kai can come and play, too."

We both looked at her as if though she grew another head. She knew, knows, just how unathletic I could be. She was more than likely getting me confused with Akaito, Mokaito, Taito, and Usaito.

"You're kidding, right?"

One of the rare moments when Dell and I could agree on something. Miki looked insulted for a second but recovered.

"Does it look like I am?" she growled in bitter seriousness.

Dell stared at me for a second or two before sighing and tossing the ball at me. I almost caught it, but it slipped so I fumbled around with it until it finally slipped out of my fingers and rolled on the grass. He rubbed his eyes and sighed again. I knew what he was thinking. "Fine, he can come then. But he's on your team with Nero."

"Fine by me," she answered back with a smug grin, feeling a little cocky because she had already won two fights in a row.

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><p><strong><em>xXx<em>**

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><p>I spent about an hour playing outside with them and I ended up leaving with the most injuries, and I was just the goalie! It was as if though everybody was out to just hurt me, save Nero and Miki, and by the way my legs looked, I didn't think I could walk anymore.I had mud smeared on my face, undoubtedly mixed with some of my blood, bruises trailing up my arms, grass stains on my shoes and shorts, a lump on my head when I knocked down into the ground by Mikuo, and I couldn't feel my right hand after I actually managed to catch a ball.<p>

Even though Ron Keine never really spoke, he was a monster on the field. Now I understood why he was nicknamed the "Blazing Dragon" when we were younger and that same name stuck to him all through high school. That guy was a force to be reckoned with and even gave Miki problems because even she wasn't spared from his cruelty. He skinned both of her knees, kicked the ball into her stomach, and tackled her countless times. He would sometimes deliberately step on her hair and glare at her, as if though he didn't think her good enough to play with them. Like with everything, he was serious when it came to soccer. Maybe that's why he was given that soccer scholarship.

Usually, nine year old girls would have cried and called it quits when either their skirt rips or at the first sight of blood. Not Miki. In fact, I think it just fueled her reason for wanting to beat Dell's team even more. Even with our combined efforts, however, his team still beat us 9-5. It was kind of pitiful and I thought that that was that, Dell found a reason why he didn't need to try and beat Miki and wouldn't bother her for a while or until he was bored and wanted somebody to pick on.

But I was wrong, as usual.

He walked up to us, smiled, and patted Miki's head, almost affectionately, and congratulated her for a good game. She smiled back and reciprocated the comment. And then he had to nerve to ask her if she'd like to play with them again some other day if they found each other at the same time.

She agreed.

I felt betrayed, for some reason, because after that Miki could be found at the park almost daily, playing the with boys. She learned a lot from them, mainly from Ron, and soon become a regular addition to their friend group.

Whenever it was needed, I was usually dragged along with her if they wanted to face off in teams and this time it was no different. Taito was finishing up bandaging a gash wound that I received on my knee from falling on a stone when the rest of my brothers found out that I was actually playing a game, and not just any game either. Soccer, or futbol, as Miki would correct me for my ignorance. Not fun at all.

"This is why you need to toughen up!" Kikaito boomed.

Taito and Zeito turned to glare at him. "Hush, you'll wake mom up." Taito scolded.

Kikaito pouted and left the kitchen with a mouth full of cotton candy. Dragaito, Nigaito, Mokaito, Kagaito, Daito, and Akaito walked in on time to see what was going on and couldn't help but laugh. Of course they would. It must have been a scream to see me like that so when Taito was finished, I huffed and stormed up to Mokaito's room to take his cell and then ran to my room before he found out it was missing. He may be calm and all, but in my opinion, he's the scariest brother that I have. I guess it's because he still sounds calm even when you know he's pissed off and that kinda keeps me on edge in case he might lose it one day. I don't really want to know what kind of anger issues he's got. . .

Well, I dialed Miki's home number as quick as I could and had to wait for a few seconds. Thankfully, she did pick up the phone this time.

"Hello?"

"I don't like you."

"Tell me something I'd actually care to learn about."

"I don't remember signing up for that kind of abuse."

"Yeah, seriously, tell me something that I'd actually care to know."

"Okay then, fine. Your ears kinda twitch when you're annoyed."

I heard her shifting on her cherry-shaped bean bag. ". . . They do?"

I laughed. "And your nose flares up when you lie."

"It does not!" she yelled.

"Does so!" I fired back. "I bet if you look in the mirror right now and say that to yourself then you'll know the truth."

"Fine, I will then!"

She didn't kill the line because I could still hear the light buzzing sound and her light footsteps that as she made her way over to her vanity. It was quiet for a while until I heard her making a fuss and then stomping back to pick the phone up.

"I hate you."

" 'Tell me something I'd actually care to learn about'," I taunted.

"Okay then, fine. You've got a star-shaped mole on your collarbone."

"Wait, what?"

I didn't wait for her to tell me to go look because I ran outside into the hallway to use the mirror there. Lo and behold, she was right. Akaito happened to walk by when I grabbed his popped up collar and pulled him back. He was getting ready to sock me when I pointed at the tiny mole, at the base of my neck.

"I've got a star-shaped mole."

"I already know that." he snapped.

"Then how come I didn't?"

" 'Cause you're dense, BaKaito!"

Leave it to me to make a fool out of myself.

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><p>AN:

Word Count- 3,183. Total Editing Time- approx. 39 minutes and 27 seconds.


	19. The Truth

A lot can happen in a short amount of time. I left out a few things that had happened to us back when we were nine, but I think that it would be important for me to tell you, since I have a feeling that she deliberately left this out.

This is going a bit back, way back, back before we did stargazing in November. I'm pretty sure it was April when this happened. It was late afternoon and Miki wanted to hang out in the tree house. The place was littered with toys, papers, crayons, some snack wrappers. . .

Simply put, it was a mess.

But we liked it like that and I guess Dell's organization "skills" must have rubbed off on us. We were up there because Miki was missing her favorite pen and she swore she knew she left up there the last time she came to visit.

"Have you found it yet?"

"Which one are we looking for again?"

"You know, the one with the white ribbon on it? The pen's blue."

"The one that kinda looks a little beat up?"

"Yeah, that's the one!"

"I haven't seen it."

". . . I hate you."

"E-eh? Why, what did I do?"

"Because you got my hopes up for nothing!" she huffed before digging through the clutter again.

I sighed. It was kind of pointless to argue with her. Just knowing what she was talking about meant nothing to her unless you actually had what she wanted. Then she'd actually thank you and, on rare occasions, give you a hug. Which I had yet to receive from her. It was as if though they were strictly reserved for Daito, Akaito and to Nigaito only.

We spent about a good half hour, maybe more, looking for that pen. She wouldn't stop looking for it because it held some kind of importance to her. I thought it was silly. How could a pen be an important object to her? It kind of did upset me that she would put material items on the highest rung of her relationship ladder, with me. . .well, I honestly didn't think I was even up there. Maybe not even the sawdust that was smoothed off of it.

I grew a little impatient and decided that it was high time that I went down. I turned to look back at her and I was going to tell her that I was leaving. I was going to come back of course, but I was tired of being outside and I wanted something to drink and snack on. But then I decided against it for some reason and climbed out of there.

I stayed inside of my house for almost two hours when I noticed that the sky was dyed with different shades of pinks and yellows and oranges. I didn't think she'd left so I forced myself to get out of my cozy couch and climb back up the ladder. What I saw wasn't something I expected to see.

She was curled up in a corner of the house, biting one of her nails while sucking a strand of hair in her mouth, eyes red and puffy. She was obviously crying. But what pulled me out of my shock was the fact that she was mumbling to herself. It was faint, but I could catch a few words. She kept repeating "leave", "goodbye", "I'm sorry", and "come back" over and over again. She scared me.

"M-Miki?" I stammered, trying to get her attention. No reaction. "M-Miki? Mii-chan, are you okay?" I didn't know why I was whispering to her. Still, she gave no answer.

I pulled myself up and slowly, cautiously walked towards her. She looked like she was in a state of frenzy, almost as if though she didn't even know where she was at. The panicked look in her eyes, heavy breathing, and the way she kept talking, just rambling on and on, made me want to run back down and call my parents for help. But I didn't. I don't know why, but I didn't and I kept walking closer to her and knelt down to her height. That was my mistake.

The instant my knee touched the wooden floor, she screamed and tackled me. Her small fists grabbed as much of my shirt as she could and started shaking me. She was accusing me of leaving her alone and she kept saying over and over again on just how much she hated me for doing it. I could have sworn she was mad at me because I left her alone up here to look for her pen and I was about to protest that I didn't mean to until she called me a name: Kio.

"M-Miki, it's me! Kaito!" I cried, trying to get her attention. "We don't know a Kio!"

"Liar!" she snarled and started slapping my face every time she repeated that word. I wanted to shout, call for somebody to come and get me and save me from her. She wasn't right, just wasn't right in the head at that moment and it scared me that I didn't know why. She was fine when I left her. So what happened?

Even though I promised myself I would never lay my hands on her, I had to get her off of me somehow. So, I pushed her. Nothing major, but I still felt guilty for doing it because I actually meant to create some kind of distance between us. Something that I never thought that I would have to do. Doing that bought me a few more seconds and I scrambled upright. But she was quicker than me because of all those sports she's done and she had me cornered again. I threw the garbage at her, screamed at her to stop, but nothing I said worked. And then I did something really stupid.

This must have been me, head full of stupid ideas from watching too much anime and soap operas with my mom, but thinking about it now, I don't regret doing it. Well, personally, I guess. . .

I launched myself at her and brought her down and held onto her tightly as she thrashed, screamed, smacked my head repeatedly with her own head and fists, but I still held onto her for dear life. I was hoping that she'd grow tired soon, but I was wrong, as usual. My ears were ringing and I was beginning to see spots in my eyes when she finally stopped. Breathing ragged, I could hear that she wasn't only trying to force air into her lungs, but she was sobbing, too.

"Wh-why. . .?" she sniffed, her fist weakly patting my back. "Wh-why didn't you come back? I-I waited, just like you told me. . . I s-stayed there, e-even though it was c-cold and wet. . ." she choked out. What was she talking about? "Y-you're a liar! You said that if I was good, you'd come back, and I was! I stayed there even when the sun started to go away. . . B-but you know how mother a-and father are, they never listen to us. I-I'm sorry I lost your favorite pen, Kio. . ." she whispered and wrapped her thin arms tightly around my neck. And I just sat there, stunned. Twice she had referred to me as "Kio" and whoever he was, I could tell that he was the person that she was waiting for back home. I grew angry at him because he had hurt her so much and she was left here, in a different country, to cry and wait for him. My chest felt tight, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. She grew quiet, finally, but her body would tremble every now and then and she'd gasp but I didn't let her go. I rocked her and whispered in her ear, pretending to be him by telling her that I was sorry for making her wait for me for so long. She must have calmed down because soon enough, she was asleep in my arms. But I still didn't let her go.

Even after the sun dipped under the horizon and the moon had shone its face, I still held onto her small body and rocked her. I heard somebody grunting from outside from climbing up the ladder. A splash of red, crimson eyes, tanned skin that reflected the light, and Akaito's face soon showed up. He opened up his mouth to scold us for staying up there again but stopped. It wasn't until after he walked in and touched my face did I realize that I was crying with her, too.

* * *

><p>"So, let me get this straight. . . She went all Donkey Kong on your sorry butt and then you had to throw yourself at her like some hot-shot hero from some kind of shojo manga to get her to stop and then she finally did and fell asleep in your arms while you were crying with her the whole time. Am I right?"<p>

I nodded. My head was throbbing and my legs felt sore from sitting like that for hours so Akaito was carrying Miki on his back. He sighed. "So she's a real nutcase then, eh?"

"Don't call her that!" I snapped. It's not like I disagreed with him, it's just that I didn't like to hear that term being connected to her. After all, she still is a girl who just so happens to be my best friend. It didn't seem to phase him, however.

"Yeah, yeah. But I wonder how she flipped out like that? I mean, most have some kind of berserk button or something -"

"She lost some guy's pen."

He stopped walking. ". . . His pen?" I nodded. "Oh wow, she flips out just because she lost some guy's pen. What's he gonna do? Is he gonna -"

"He's the guy that she's been waiting for."

Luckily, that shut him up. He remembered him, thankfully. We walked in silence for about a block or two until we were finally a few steps away from her front porch. He lightly kicked my foot. "I'm handing her over to you. Something tells me that her parents will be willing to tell you everything you want to know. And then you come and tell me, got it?"

I didn't have much of a choice as he shifted her over to my back. And then he had the nerve to run off and leave me be. The least he could have done was knock on the door. . . My head went through more trauma than it should have, really. But I guess I should count myself lucky when her mom answered the third bang. She looked surprised to seem us like that.

"Oh, Kaito! What a pleasant surprise. I see the way you're holding Miki that you two had too much fun?" she asked with a smile. She noticed how uncomfortable I was because the kind, warm look in her eyes changed and darkened in worry. "Kaito, what is it?"

I took a deep breath before looking up at her. "May I please come in?"

She seemed a little taken aback but said nothing about it and moved aside to give me some space. That was when I told her everything. And she looked as pale as a ghost when I mentioned Kio.

"Who is he?" I asked after she left Miki in her bed to sleep. "She kept calling me that and a liar and said that I left her alone. So I think I need to know who he is because she even told me that she's been waiting for him to come back to see him again."

Luka kept shifting her weight to one to another when I was talking. She was even sucking on a strand of hair. I guess that's where Miki got her nervous habit from. But why was this making her so upset, too.

"Kaito," she whispered. "We need to talk."

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no. No. Suddenly, I felt like I was brought into some kind of unknown territory that was strictly forbidden from wandering eyes and yet I had somehow stumbled upon the trove of treasures. And then the demon would swoop down and devour me whole.

She walked out of the hallway and swiftly went into her room. I stayed out there and waited for her to come back. When she did, she was holding a large photo album. "Come with me," she commanded and I let her lead me to the living room. Once we had settled down on the couches, she opened it up and let the flap rest on my thighs. She had countless pictures. She had some of just herself when she was younger, of Kiyoteru, and pages upon pages of pictures that had Miki on it. Miki as a newborn, Miki when she took her first step with her dad holding a camcorder, Miki surrounded in a mess of toys, Miki with her hair in plaited pigtails, Miki on her first day of school with some kids at her sides. But then she went all the way to the back.

A baby girl with dark brown hair like her father, wrapped in a white blanket with apple print. When she turned the page, I saw her name and birthday scrawled in blue ink at the back of the picture. That was when I had learned of Yuki. But she didn't stop for her and turned the page. My heart stopped and I choked on my own breath. I saw a three year old Miki riding on the back of a person who looked almost identical to her, except older. And obviously a boy.

"His name was Mikiya."

"Was?"

She slowly nodded her head once, then twice. "Yes."

And then she broke down in front of me. Now, I'm no good when it comes to tears - thankfully Miki's face was hidden - but seeing a grown woman cry made me feel as if though everything wrong in this world was all my fault. When her husband came running, he automatically asked the usual questions one asks for. What's wrong? Why are you crying? What happened? And once he knew what the problem was, he appeared as if though he had aged in those few moments. And then that's when they told me.

He was eight when it happened. Shortly after Yuki's passing, they actually did try again and this time, she had a boy. When it was clear he lived past a month, they decided to name him Mikiya, which meant healthy, tender, youthful. And that was exactly what he was. Multiply Miki's energy by ten and he was the product. Always running, always talking, always causing trouble. It was as if though they never lost their first because he easily could have been three kids in one. And then he begged to have a sister.

"Please momma, papa? Defosuke has a sister Defoko. Taro has a sister Momo. I wanna sister, too!" he had told them. Or rather he ordered them to, they admitted. Even though he was only three, he would always set a goal in mind and would do whatever it took to make sure he got what he deserved. And it was decided that she would have a name like his because he had asked for her and because he was such a good boy since he was given a little sister. And he got what he had wanted. And he was always defensive of her. As she grew older, he always made sure that she was going to be okay. He made sure that nothing harmful would happen to her.

When she turned two, he pretty much isolated his sister from everyone.

"Nobody knows her better than I do," was his excuse.

Even when he was told that she had to talk to other kids, he would always stubbornly shake his head. "No, she doesn't need them. She has me," he insisted.

The day she wanted to wear nothing but the same kind of clothes that her big brother wore, their parents brought the topic up again that she needed to be with children her age. And that they should be _girls_. He understood what they meant.

"I can teach her how to be a girl!" he snapped.

He taught himself how to make flower crowns and every time they went outside to play, she would have one on top of her head by the time they came back.

"Because Miki is my Princess!" he'd said, her legs dangling over his shoulders as she played with his hair. He was her throne.

He put hair clips in his hair that were different colors, mainly light blue, purple, pink and white. "It's to keep your hair out of your eyes. And don't you make them look super cute?" He would put her in front of their mirror to prove his point.

Miki always wanted to have her hair cut. She wanted her hair to be as short as her brother's.

"I like long hair," he told her. To prove his point, he didn't let their parents trim his hair. His hair grew fast. He could keep it up in a small ponytail, like Len's, before she was three and a half. "I bet if Miki lets her hair grow long, she'll be even prettier than Mom!" She hates scissors and refuses to let anybody even attempt to snip at her split ends now.

They admitted that they were afraid that he had developed a sister complex by the way he was acting. His friends didn't come and see him as often any more because they didn't like hanging out with "girly" boys. He didn't mind. In fact, he acted like he didn't even care. "I have Miki. That's good enough for me." Although, in the end, he did let a small group of kids play with her. Two boys, one with blue hair and another with brown, and a girl with green hair. That's all I can remember.

He also took a lot of pride of the simplest things Miki could do and the not so simplest. "Mom! Dad! See what Miki can do!" He brought out at least thirty objects, all different, and brought them to the small room that he shared with Miki. He had them in a large box and took them out in front of them one by one while Miki stared at them. The moment he had finished putting away a family picture, a coffee mug, a mixture of his toys and hers, a plastic vase, a book, a cassette, a pen, a pencil, a hair clip (white), hair tie, hair brush, a lollipop, and a few other trinkets, he shook the box and stuck his hand inside to mix them up. "Go and put them in the order you saw them," he instructed and within minutes, Miki had all the items neatly lined up in the exact order that he had presented them. "See? Miki has a great memory! And she's not even four, yet!" he gushed.

Close to her fourth birthday, Mikio — he preferred being called that because it sounded more masculine than his birth name — had plans for the two of them. "First, we're gonna go and visit Mr. and Mrs. Matsuda and their son so that you can play with him," He started. "and then we're gonna play out in the meadow that I found for you. And we're gonna play racing sticks in the water and maybe swim if the water's not too cold. It's been a pretty warm winter, right Mom? After that, we're gonna come back inside, take a bath, and then bake your birthday cake, just you and me. You like the sound of that, Miki?"

They were gone for a long time. They didn't stay that long at the Matsuda's (which was the surname of one of the boys that her brother let her play with, Ppoiyo) and went straight to the meadow. It was an open area filled with wildflowers, swollen blueberries and wild strawberries and different kinds of trees. It was pretty far off, but he found it when he was younger, probably before Miki came to be. They told me that the moment she was able to walk more than ten paces, he brought her there everyday, even if it rained.

Unfortunately, because of the distance, they never heard a thing until it was too late. When the sun was going down, they gathered up most of the neighbors and set out to look for the lost children. They never expected to find Miki hiding in a ditch filled with mud that was softened with rainwater from the day before, cloaked in leaves and branches. She was so still and quiet, they almost walked past her and feared the worst. When Luka knelt down to pick her up, she screamed bloody murder. She screamed and screamed at them and told them to leave her alone.

"Kio's gone! Kio's gonna get me later if I'm a good girl! Kio's coming when the scary sounds and screaming stop! Go away!" she kept repeating over and over.

They still don't have a clue who did that to him. He was only eight, going on nine, when they found his twisted body, not even two feet away from her. She probably saw what had happened to him. Since they were so far from home, he probably knew she had a better chance if he told her to hide and distract their assailant. But he never got far. Miki's still convinced that he's waiting for her and that maybe he was just napping on the grass, back at the meadow, because she was a good girl and he was just tired from running so much from that evil man. But her parents took her away and that's why she hasn't seen him.

It all made sense now and I had the same feeling from earlier when I couldn't breathe after seeing his picture. I don't know how I'd react if that had happened to my brothers. I have a lot of them. But she had only one. While Miki was recovering at a hospital, Luka and Kiyoteru started thinking about their late child as they made plans for him. His attitude towards his sister had them thinking about why he was so defensive of her. They felt guilty for believing all of those "silly" theories of him.

They realized that she was actually extremely quiet. The times when Mikio was busy doing something else, she would always stay on their bed and stare off into space and would stay like that for hours on end, if they let her. And she possibly would have if he didn't come in and call her name. Her brother may have also noticed that she actually really didn't get along with the other kids. They did admit to hearing some of the kids complain about her hurting them. The more they thought about it, the more they began to think that he was actually defending her from everybody out of fear that they didn't know to tolerate her and that she would be teased for it.

After she was discharged from the hospital, she grew depressed and shut everybody out of her life. She refused to eat and drink anything and started crying out in her sleep.

A week after she was back home, Kiyoteru called my father and asked if there were any homes available in our area, in Japan.

* * *

><p>Now, this is where I think a double-edged sword analogy can be used. One one hand, I could have had another friend. However, if that had never happened to him - as much as I hate to think of it like that - I would have never befriended Miki. That made me curl up into a tight ball in my bed and pull my bedsheets over my head. No kid needed to hear that about their friend. No kid needed to see that about their friend.<p>

Akaito was still waiting for me outside my door, banging his fist, demanding to find out what they had told me.

"Later. . ." I really wasn't in the mood.

"I want to know _now_. You promised me that you would."

"That was before they told me, okay? Now be quiet and go to your room."

"Kaito Shion, you're only older than me by twelve minutes!"

I pulled my head from out of the sheets and gave him a "WTF" look. "And what does that have to do with me not telling you what Mr. and Mrs. Hiyama told me?"

"Because you probably think that because you're older you don't have to tell me. Well, you're wrong. Now spit it out." he countered.

I groaned and buried my face into my pillow. He's as stubborn as she. He could have gone the whole night asking if I'd let him.

"It's about time!" he grouched when I finally opened the door and plopped down on my bed. "So, what caused her to be some kind of a nutcase?"

"I won't tell you a thing if you keep calling her that," I snapped.

He raised a curious brow. "Why? You probably were thinking the same thing when she had that moment in the tree house. I mean, you were holding and telling her it'd be okay and stuff. You two kinda looked like -"

"Do you want to know what they told me or what?"

"Please proceed."

He swore he'd never look at her the same again. He was a lot nicer to her, too, from then on and let her win most of the arguments that they had. But he didn't look like he minded anymore. And as much as I never wanted to touch Miki again, the next day I saw her walk out of her door, I ran up to her and held her tight while ignoring her protests and how red her face was. If all it took was me pretending to be her brother to make her feel comfortable when she isn't herself, then so be it. Somehow, I felt kind of special knowing that I was the first to understand her outside of her family.

She was talking to Akaito about weird game ideas. All I heard was "bobbing for apples" and "cow tongues" and I knew I was going to be out if they ever actually plan on doing that. It might have been strange to some people who were walking past her home, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of her. Seeing her with Akaito had me thinking. And then I understood why she didn't really play with me. Dell has red eyes; her brother had red eyes. Ron has long hair; her brother had long hair. My brother's hair and eye color were very close to Mikio's. Now it made sense. Normally, most kids would have been a bit depressed realizing that their friend doesn't really like them because they look different and maybe even act different. Not me. It just spurred me on to prove to her that I don't need to have any physical similarities with her brother. That was when I also made that foolish promise that I'd always take care of her. Maybe, in a way, I was trying to understand her better.

Mikio was supposed to turn thirty-one last Wednesday.

* * *

><p>The day Miki had climbed past the tree house and up to the thinnest branches was the day where I lost all reasoning and began to panic for her well-being. This was several months after her incident, which she never had had another one in my presence, and she was feeling extremely mischievous and was trying to tempt me into climbing after her. She knew just as well as I did that I was terrified of heights. So she was obviously using that against me.<p>

"Don't be such a 'fraidy cat, Kai-Kai! It's not hard or scary!" she teased and stuck out her tiny pink tongue.

I frowned. She was asking for it. But just the idea of trying to hold onto those thin branches, so high up from the ground, made my stomach do somersaults. "I-I'll go up there and bring you down if I have to!" I swore.

She laughed at me. "You and I both know you won't, you're scared of heights!" she shot back and had a smug grin when she knew that she was right. As usual.

When my hand reached for a branch and I stuck my foot in one of the grooves, she looked at me with mild shock and amusement. I thought she was going to stay there and wait for me to climb up. But she didn't. She continued climbing up until she was sitting on the roof of the tree house. So I had to follow her with uneasy steps and unwavering "grace". "M-Miki! Wait for me, slow down!"

"Nyah, nyah, you can't catch me~" she taunted. That was when I felt like I had had enough of her and her antics. I quickened the pace and before I knew it, I had climbed far enough to get a hold of her dirtied white shoe. But I missed. When she noticed what I was about to do, she moved her foot out of the way. She was far from me so I loosened my grip on the branch so that I could stretch, but because she moved, I had nothing to hold onto and I fell forward. I know she didn't mean it. I saw how quickly she got up and tried to grab my shirt. But she wasn't fast enough and I hit the ground with a heavy thud and I heard a snap. I couldn't feel it at first when I landed on my arm. It was just a dull sensation until the shock began to fade away and I could actually feel it. It wasn't an unbearable kind of pain, but it felt so strange, my head knew that my arm was in a position that it definitely couldn't do on it's own, and it began to hurt like hell. When I tried to get up, it felt like somebody was stabbing my arm with fillet knives and needles. I was trying so hard not to cry out so that I didn't get my parents attention. Miki was at my side before I knew it because I was so wrapped up with what had happened. My head was spinning and I felt like I needed to run to the garbage and vomit.

"Kaito! Oh my - Don't move! Stay here, I'll go and g-"

She didn't get to finish because my mother's scream and colorful vocabulary interrupted her. Then everything seemed to happen so fast because I was in my dad's arms and he was carrying me in the car. The look in his eyes scared me. "Don't be mad at her," I pleaded. "She tried to catch me. It wasn't her fault, it was mine." Whether he believed me or not, I wasn't sure because the nausea and headache was blurring my vision. To add onto the broken arm, I even had a concussion. Eh, it wasn't that bad since most of my weight was on my arm, but that would have explained the nausea and headaches that I had for the next week or so.

School started later that month and I had a lot of people wanting to draw and sign the cast that I had on. I let any body write on it, but I could never seem to find the one person who I really wanted to see their name on it. "Is she sick?" I asked Akaito one day.

He looked puzzled and asked,"What she?"

"Miki. I haven't seen her lately."

He shrugged. "She's here. I just saw her walk up to her class in 2-A. But she isn't sick. But, now that you mention it, she's kinda acting like she's ignoring you. What did you do to get her mad this time?"

I didn't answer him. I walked away from him and hid in the library, wedged in between a table and the wall. For the rest of that year, I tried to get her attention whenever she was in the same area as I was for longer than ten seconds. But she always ignored me. Guilt began to gnaw at my conscience. I was starting to believe that she wasn't talking to me because she must have thought it was her fault for what happened to me and maybe she got in trouble for it. But that wasn't going to be enough to defer me from talking to her. One way or another, I was going to find a way to get her to look me in the eye and have her talk to me again.

* * *

><p>AN:

Coffee does things to your head when you haven't had in about four days. I usually drink at least one mug a day, so yeah. . . My fingers and head went into overdrive or something.

Word Count- 5,762. Total Editing Time- approx. 61 minutes and 17 seconds.


	20. Animosity

A/N:

I'm glad that the confusion was cleared up last chapter, but I almost didn't go and upload that. I was about to erase all of that and be all like "Meh, maybe next time" because I don't want to write something and then get up for longer than twenty minutes because I want to literally do a chapter per sitting. Well, if I have at least two hours to myself. Now, I'm going to shorten my time (which might mean that the length could be shorter as well) so that I know that I can finish these during the allotted amount of time. I do, however, would like to thank everyone who has reviewed this so far, I honestly didn't think I was going to go far with this. ; u ;

* * *

><p>Time and time again, Miki had successfully evaded and somehow appeared to have some sort of foresight of how and when I would approach her. She went to great lengths to avoid me in the halls, during the classes that we actually had together, and during the lunch period where I would sit down at the table she was at before she would gather her things and up away again. It was obviously irritating me and causing me to want to have mini seizure panic attacks because I had quickly learned that I hated feeling as if though I was the culprit of all things horrible again. But even if I wasn't speaking to her then, she did stay as interesting and as, well, Miki-esque as ever.<p>

We had physical education together and I had learned from there that Miki was not happy with her childhood. This was several months into the school year, a week before she was going to turn ten, when she answered our instructor in a calm and collected manner to explained her reason on why she was so underweight compared to all of her peers. Even at that age, she was as thin and as narrow as a twig that she was often called "Twiggy" and the nickname stuck to her for a long time.

Anyways, she had successfully fabricated a story in which her parents were missionaries who'd been martyred in Zimbabwe and she'd been left to the charge of a cruel aunt who fed her only half a piece of bread soaked in milk once a fortnight. I was nearly knocked over by a soccer ball that whacked my face, but I had surprisingly managed to stand my ground as I stared at her, in utter and in complete shock that she could come up with a lie like that and to say it so casually, like it was an every day thing, and that she thought that it was really of little importance that the misfortune had to be bestowed onto her. I had never pinned it on her that she could be such a smooth liar. And that she could easily call out other people for it and yet couldn't bear to add herself to the list. Hypocrite, but maybe that's why my beginning years of life were never dull.

That day, I decided to risk my mother's wrath and ran to her house everyday after she had settled in it so that I could elude her and that she wouldn't have an excuse to knock me senseless on her front yard. Or in her mother's flowerbed.

One day, a very earnest and suspicious social worker came to their doorstep and repeated Miki's story to them after they made some small talk. When they had walked inside of the house to talk about this even further, I was lucky enough to hear that they had gone to the kitchen and that meant that all I had to do was hide on their back porch to hear everything. So, I did just that.

Her parents, recovering quickly from the news, assured everyone involved that her behavior was simply a necessary stage in the preadolescent path of individuation. Just testing boundaries, integrating identity, expressing the normal hostility of a girl toward her parents as she stretches the limits of her childhood dependence. Despite her size, I could hear Miki's tiny feet cause such an uproar on the poor stairs leading up to her room, convinced that there was possibly nothing worse than an unshockable parent. And she had _two_. Who studied _psychology_. It's almost as if though she really should have known better and was just asking for disappointment. I almost pitied her, but she did bring it upon herself, for whatever reason some deity (or otherwise) had possessed her to make such tales.

At one point, when we had started the next year of school, I had had enough of waiting for her to come around. So instead of her taking action, I did.

On some crisp, skin-bitingly cold October evening at around eight thirty, I climbed up the English vines (surprisingly sturdy plants) that lead to her balcony and I held rocks and some clumps of dirt in my hand to throw at her window to get her attention. I don't really know why I risked so much just to talk to her. Somehow, in the back of my head, I wanted to blame the idea that I was doing this because of my promise, but when I felt my heart leap in my throat and my smile naturally coming on my face, I was almost afraid that it had been something else as I swung one leg over the ledge.

When she finally opened the double doors, I saw the surprised look on her face and my smile must have gotten bigger because of that. I swung my other leg so that I was sitting on the railing. She stood there in front of me and did not say a word and the silence between us actually hurt me. I didn't really know what to expect, but I wanted to believe that perhaps she was going to spill out her reason(s) for avoiding me, for being so cold and distant. So when she didn't, I felt my smile slowly fade and I looked at her wistfully.

I couldn't take it anymore. ". . .Why didn't you come back to visit?"

She turned her face away and stared at her feet. That same, dreadful, gut-wrenching feeling came back as I began to believe that she really did hate me by the way she was acting. I felt so horrible in the inside and I wanted to climb back down. But I already slipped out of my house via window and I knew that I couldn't go back, deflated and defeated. So I tried again, because I wanted, _needed_, to know.

"Miki? Did I do something wro-"

"I didn't come back because I thought you'd be mad at me."

I got what I wanted but that still didn't shake off the sense of awe that she had actually said a word. A full sentence, actually.

"Why would I be mad at you?" Really, I didn't know why I would be.

"Because I broke your arm, stupid," she snapped.

"But it's better!" I even lifted up my arm to show her. "You didn't have to ignore me at school, you know, it's oka-"

"No it isn't!" she yelled, the sudden raise of her voice startled me and I flinched and - as usual - I made the mistake of bringing my arms up to cover my face and I started slipping backwards. Unlike last time, she made it this time and harshly pulled me forward. Even when it was clear I wasn't going to fall, she still kept a firm grip on my nightshirt, to the point where her knuckles were white and that her whole body began to tremble.

At that point, I was afraid that she was going to have another episode and I softly cupped her hands in mine and looked down at her because she was staring at her feet again.

"Miki, I'm okay, see?" I told her softly. "You don't have to keep holding on-"

"Come inside, it's cold," she told me sharply and gave my shirt a hard tug to make me follow her. "You really are stupid, walking all that way just to get to my house in the middle of October without a sweater. . . And in shorts and sandals! Are you trying to catch your death of cold?" She scolded, sounding very much like my mother. I couldn't help but smile at her again, grateful that all awkwardness between us had ceased and that she was reminding me that, despite the slight misunderstanding, she still cared. She clicked her tongue disapprovingly when she looked over her shoulder at me. She said that whenever I smile at her, I look like an idiot compared to whenever I smile at others. I didn't understand why I had different smiles for people, I just did.

She dragged me to the middle of her carpeted room before letting me go and she turned to face me, her foot impatiently tapping.

I stared at her blankly, not quite sure what she wanted from me. "What? What are you-"

"I'm waiting for you to tell me why you ran away from home, which it's past your bed time Kai-Kai, and for you to tell me why you're standing in my room." she simply asked.

I was afraid it was going to be something more serious than that, so I felt relieved to know that it was something that I could reply to her with ease. "Well. . . I wanted to see you," I admitted, "that's how I got here because mom thinks I'm asleep, and you dragged me here; that's how I got here."

The look on her face made me laugh since it was rare to see her reciprocate a clueless look and I playfully poked her cheek to bring her back to earth. I only got to give her two good pokes before she shoved me down on her cherry ice cream beanbag chair. She pinned my shoulders down and glared at me.

"Idiot!" she hissed. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? What if some creepy hobo saw you and thought that maybe if he kidnapped you, he could make a lot of moola since this is a rich neighborhood?"

While she towered over me, I gave it some thought and shrugged. "But there's cameras at every lamp post, I'm sure they'd catch him-"

"Not the point!" She interrupted. "That is not the point! My gosh, you're actually really troublesome." she said with an exasperated sigh before getting off of me. "Does your parents know this secret side to you?"

Oh come on, really? I thought that was kinda of funny of her to ask because I covered my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing out loud at her incredulous look. "Nope!" I finally said with the same smile I make for her.

She sighed and slumped onto the floor and glared at me again. She was starting to intimidate me again and I couldn't help but tilt my head in confusion and brought my knees up to my chin. "Wh-what? You didn't miss me?"

She looked surprised and sighed for the umpteenth time that night before getting up and walking to sit next to me.

"Of course I missed you. . ." She told me softly. "You're my best friend, aren't you?" She sounded a little insecure, but she also a bit hopeful.

I pulled his face out of my knees and blinked in surprise. Of course she is. I nodded. "Yeah and you're still mine, too, right?"

She beamed and stuck out her pinky towards me. "Mhm, always and forever?"

With a smile, I tightly wrapped my pinky around hers. "Always and forever," I promised. It had never occurred to me then that I might one day regret and go back on those words.

* * *

><p>I slept there often. Every night for a year to be exact. I was later caught, but I'll tell you about that later.<p>

Miki and I would snack and talk in hushed voices under her comforter and giggle every now and then at our silliness. She got to meet some new friends, not many other than the boys, and I told her that I met some too, namely Len and Gakupo. She seemed mostly interested in how my life was going during her absence and would brush aside any of my questions. Maybe it would have been best if I didn't bother asking, but I couldn't help but worry about her.

Then came those nights when she had trouble sleeping. She would blankly stare up at her ceiling with a faraway look in her eyes. On those nights, she would either want to keep talking, or she would start to input some, what I used to teasingly tell her, of her "philosophical" questions. Except that one time.

"Kaito?"

I turned around in her bed to look at her and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes to give her my full attention. "Yeah?"

"Do we dream when we die?"

I bit my lower lip, contemplating on whether or not I should pretend to doze off and ignore her, or answer her question. "I don't know. Maybe not?" I offered.

She turned away from me and stared up at her ceiling fan. I thought, hoped, that that was that and I was preparing to go back to sleep when she started talking again.

"I want to die. Maybe then Kio will leave me alone."

My blood ran cold and I kept taking in shallow breaths of air. That kind of thinking shouldn't be going through the mind of a little girl! That was one of the many times she would ask that morbid question. She hated it whenever her brother "visited" her dreams. She told me that he wouldn't listen to her whenever he came back.

"He's back again," she told me, almost a month later. That first time she told me, I pretended to fall back asleep. Whether she bought it or not didn't make a difference because she only huddled up closer to me and buried her face in my chest. I was willing to do that again, but she caught me. "I just want you to talk. . ." She sounded so tired. She hadn't done anything to me during my stays so I decided to listen to her.

I opened my eyes and looked at her small face. "Why do you want him to go away?" I ask and lightly trace her cheek with my thumb.

She stayed silent and nibbled on her lower lip thoughtfully before talking. "Because when I wake up, I'm not happy anymore."

My brows knitted together in confusion. "What do you mean that you're not happy anymore when you wake up?"

"Exactly what I said. I see him the way he was before he left, playing, him laughing and telling jokes. . ." her voice trails off and I see her harshly bite down on her lower lip before continuing. "And he looks and feels so real, it's almost like nothing happened, like he's really okay and it's just a nightmare that keeps going on and on. . . I guess I sometimes dream the strangest dreams because I feel happy when they happen. But whenever I wake up, it's like my heart's crying on the inside and I don't know what to do anymore when he's gone. So I don't want him in them anymore because if he's not there, maybe I wouldn't feel this way."

I didn't know what to tell her. So I tell her just that. "I wish I knew what to tell you."

She sighs slightly and covers my hand with hers so that it's resting against her cheek. "I had a feeling you'd say that," she admitted and smiled. I thought she'd be upset with me and my lack of wit to answer her. But as quick as her smile comes, it goes away and she casts her eyes down, away from my face. "But. . ." she trailed off.

I lightly rubbed her cheek, encouraging her to go one."But what?"

"I. . ." she hesitated. "I just, I don't know. I've been thinking about it a lot. I've been dreaming of him for a long, long time. And I know if I ask Mother and Father that, they'd probably try to send me away or something so that's why I asked you last time. But I guess I should have asked sooner because you fell asleep when I asked you."

"But why would you think that dying would help solve that?"

"Because, maybe. . . If I'm happy dreaming of Mikio, and I have been thinking about him and this idea a lot. . . but don't you think that maybe death is like one big dream? A never ending one? Dead people look like they're just sleeping in their caskets. I've been thinking that if I can't wake up then maybe it'll stay happy. Maybe I'll stay happy."

Maybe she had a point. She was going to talk some more but I had had enough. I pulled her towards me and tucked her head under my chin and forced her face into my chest to keep her quiet because I didn't want to hear it. I didn't want to know that she was thinking like that. Soon enough, she got the message and stopped talking. I didn't think voicing an apology would cut it, so I spent the rest of that night rubbing small circles on her back and holding her close. Eventually, she fell asleep, but she took so long that I didn't sleep a wink. I started thinking that if I kept my eyes closed for longer than a second, she would hold true to her word and that I'd wake up to find her body stilled, cold. . . Just the thought of that made me tighten my hold on her and for days on end I would sleep in some of my classes.

Akaito grew suspicious, but he seemed to believe me when I blamed nightmares and the shapes and sounds that happened only at night. That was fine with me. As long as I could keep sneaking out and being able to comfort her, then all the better. The next time I was over, she and I were busy snacking on ice cream and cherries and just talking about school and our friends again. That was when I told her about Mikuo's crush on her, which surprised me that she hadn't noticed that.

"I think even Mikuo has a crush on you."

"Ewww! That's gross!" She cried and wrinkled up her nose. She paused and looked like she was thinking about that and shuddered.

I shrugged and ate another spoonful of cookies and cream before defending my accusation. "Well, just saying 'cause it looks like he does."

She frantically shook her head before spitting out a cherry pit back into her bowl. "Naw, Mikuo's just a jerk and a boy."

I raised a curious brow."But I'm a boy, too," I reminded her.

"Yeah, but you're different from them."

"How?"

" 'Cause you're not a jerk and you don't do stupid stuff all the time."

" . . .does climbing up the vine to get here count-"

"You don't do stupid stuff all the time." She said with finality and I knew that I should just accept that. So I did, with another shrug and a small nod.

We both continued to eat in silence until I shuddered. "I'm cold. . ."

"I'm sure that had to happened considering that you nearly finished up a gallon of ice cream by yourself. We can use my blanket to get warm, remember?" She offered and pulled it off of her bed and draped it over my shoulders.

I straightened up and moved the food out of the way while she stretched out the beanbag. " 'Kay, it's ready. But just for a little while, I gotta get home before mom finds out I snuck out again." I told her. Akaito was growing more and more suspicious and I was afraid that he might one day end up telling mom about my little escapades. And I knew I couldn't let that happen.

"Psh, don't worry that pretty little blue head of yours, I'll kick you out the window before that happens." she cheerfully replied.

I couldn't help but stare at her in disbelief. ". . .you don't really mean that, do you?"

"Maybe."

I sort of slumped down in the seat and pulled the blanket over my nose before calling her bluff out, " I-I know you're lying. . ." Well, I wasn't entirely sure, but it did never hurt to try. . . Except it might this time around since she threatened to kick me out of her window that was two stories up from the ground.

She giggled to prove her playfulness and scooted in beside me and tucked me in. "Kai-Kai knows me very well."

With that in mind, I calmed down a bit and burrowed deep into the sheets to fall asleep. It didn't take Miki long either to follow.

* * *

><p>Apparently, I'm horrible at keeping secrets. Miki concluded that since I basically suck at lying, that also means that I can't keep anything a secret either. For some reason, I had a feeling that there was no way that two different subjects could correlate with each other, but of course, I was wrong. Akaito proved that.<p>

The morning after Miki made that harmless joke about kicking me out of her room, I found Akaito sleeping in my bed and I felt the blood drain to my toes. I didn't know how long he knew and I did know that he had to come out of there sometime, I gently shook him awake. "A-Akaito? Wh-what're you doing in my bed?" I whispered.

He grumbled something incoherent before rolling on his side and lazily looked up at me. " 'Cause you weren't in it."

"Well, yeah, I know, but. . . H-how -"

"How long did I know? Pffft, you're so obvious, Kai-chan. . ." His voice was muffled by my pillow and I pulled it out from underneath him.

"Okay, one, I don't like being called that. Two, you didn't really answer my question and three, get out of my bed!"

"Hey, you're the one who neglected it for almost a year. Yeah, that's right, I knew about this for a long while and I could've told mom on what you've been doing, but I've been a good brother and let you have your fun with Miki. And don't look that surprised, there couldn't possibly be any other place around here where you could have run off to for the night other than Len's place but he lives at the other side of this neighborhood. So why have you been visiting her at night? And why _just_ at night? You guys don't even talk to each other during school!"

I smacked his head with the pillow to try and shush him up because his voice was raising. "Shhh! It's only six, you'll wake up mom and dad!" I hissed. He snatched the pillow out of my hand and used it to pin me onto the floor. He sat on my stomach and smacked my face with every pronunciation. "Why." Smack. "Are." Smack. "You." Smack. "Seeing." Smack. "Her?" Smack. The last hit kind of hurt so I grabbed it and tried to pull it away from him, but he was keeping an iron-like grip on it.

"And why do you care about me seeing her? She's still my friend!"

"She sure doesn't act like it!"

"But she still is! She even said so!"

"She said it because that's what you want to be told! People say things that they want to hear! She probably didn't even mean it."

I let the pillow go and he fell back and I head the hollow thud of his head hitting the wood floor. "She meant it!" I spat. "I know she did and she does act like my friend. You're just mad because she stopped talking to you, too, and that she hasn't even tried to come and see you. If she didn't want to be my friend, then she could have told me to get out of her house the first time I walked inside of her room. But you know what? She didn't. She even let me eat over there and talk with her and even play with her. So I'm still her friend. And I'd like to see you say anything else about that." I challenged. I never realized just how much tension would happen between us whenever we spoke about her, however, regardless of that, Akaito wasn't going to take that sitting down.

From the floor, he reached up and grabbed a fist full of my shirt to pull me down to his height. He pulled my face extremely close to his, nose-to-nose, and told me in a low voice,"Mom hates her. You know that. I don't care if you two are friends or not, but I will tell her about this." He smirked when he saw my face before replacing it with a sickenly sweet smile. "Unless, you make a deal with me."

Akaito was one of those kinds of people where it really isn't a smart thing to make deals with. But I was desperate and against my better judgement, I folded. "Okay. . . What do you want?"

"Miki."

"Wait, what? ! Why?" I demanded and bit his nose.

"Ow!" he cried and pushed me away. He rubbed it several times before starting again. "Just hear me out, dammit! And tell mom I said that and you're dead. Then how're you gonna see her? Look, don't take it the way it sounded like because that's not what I meant. Well, entirely."

"Just tell me!"

"I want her to be my pretend girlfriend."

"Oh sure, yeah, like I'm going to be okay with that!"

"You wanna see her? Well, Mom likes me better than you, so I know she can't say no to that. Miki will be able to come over because she'll be with me, not you, and then - boom! - you guys can do whatever the heck you feel like in the open. And if you don't want to do this, I'll tell her what you've been up to and she'll more than likely put locks on your window, maybe a camera in here-"

"All right, all right! I get it. . . " I mumbled. "B-but I still don't want to agree with this! Miki's not going to be okay with this, at all, because she doesn't like you. So I don't even know why you're bot-"

"If you she really sees you as her friend, she'll say yes."

There are moments when Akaito reminds me of Miki because of how keen he is. This happened to be one of those moments, even though I wasn't particularly fond of the idea, I still went up to Miki's desk - to her surprise - and told her of his plan. At first, she threw a fit about it and nearly took it out on her desk until I told her it was to keep us both out of trouble. Well, all I really said that he'd tell my Mom, but she knew that also meant that she would go up to hers and then we'd both get an earful. So, she grudgingly agreed to the arrangement. The night Akaito and Miki came into our dining room, hand in hand, and announced the news, our Dad walked up to him and patted his back while he ruffled up Miki's hair.

"I knew this would happen one day! But so soon? Haha, my boy, you're a fast one!"

We were all lost, especially our Mom. She protested, of course, but she didn't have the power to overrun our Dad's decision. But when he went up to them to congratulate their status as a couple, I couldn't help but feel mildly irritated when our Dad said that he knew that this would happen. What did he mean by that? Did he somehow know that Akaito would be the one to be with her this whole time? Did he think I couldn't handle that and just be her friend her whole life? I couldn't bear to look at them when they sat at the table, wedged in between Kizaito and Zeito, with the rest of our siblings saying the same damned thing. I pushed the foreign feelings aside and absent-mindedly pulled my chopsticks back and forth on my plate, moving the noodles around. _At least I would be able to see Miki again tomorrow_, I thought.

It didn't take long for me to quickly learn to hate the deal. She actually did spend most of her time with Akaito. They really did act like a couple by going out to different places - his treat, of course - and wouldn't be back home until it was way past her curfew. I thought it was ironic how she didn't even like him- let alone be willing to be his girlfriend - and how this whole thing was supposed to be a way for us to hang out without any trouble and she completely disregarded its purpose. It felt bittersweet, but somehow, I felt like I knew what Akaito's true intention was the whole time and, like the gullible idiot that I could be, I let him take advantage of that and kept her away. He got what he wanted and all he needed was a fool. And he certainly did a great job at pinning me as one.

Even after their "relationship" started waning away, I almost couldn't allow myself to let her get close to me. She used me, that's what it looked like. I even felt used, only there at her convenience and was never given a second thought after being disposed. _I_ was the one who comforted her when she became scared and lost. _I_ was the one who gave her advice when she wanted it. _I_ was the one who protected her from those rumors at school when she refused to talk to anyone. _I_ did everything _for her_. And for what? I thought I could be someone to her, but I was wrong, I was horribly wrong. I didn't want to keep that promise anymore because she didn't need me. She had my brother, she had Dell and Ron, too. Where do I fit in there? No where. Every time she would come up and talk to me, I'd give her fake smiles and laughs whenever she told a joke. She never suspected a thing.

And I thought that meeting her would make me feel wanted again, but I was horribly, horribly wrong.

* * *

><p>Word Count- 5,391. Total Editing Time- 72 minutes and 16 seconds.<p> 


	21. Changes

A/N:

I had time to kill.

* * *

><p>I can't say if giving her my full attention at the get-go was a great idea to begin with. Let me start over.<p>

For years afterwards, Miki's and Akaito's status as a couple crumbled after Mikuo had asked Miki, for the umpteenth time, if she and Akaito were still together. She only shrugged, not sure even herself about their status. But she also didn't seem to care. That wasn't new. Even though I came in pretty late, I had to bite back my disdain at the sight of the trio in our homeroom class. Dell was busy smacking on gum since he couldn't breathe in those cancer sticks, Mikuo was making an idiot of himself because Miki was present, and Ron was actually doing a good job staying out of the mess and just blending in with the rest of us. He was reading a book the whole time and he didn't even flinch when Mikuo landed on the ground. That must have happen many more times than I realized.

When Miki finally noticed that I was there, she looked me over and started fussing over my appearance. In the past, her friends would always tease us for acting like some kind of couple because of the way she would act and treat me. Those were the few times were she would act as if though she cared for me, but that's what it probably was; all an act. Although I let her get away with it because I was too tired to complain about her tucking in my shirt and fixing up my tie that morning. Fighting for your breakfast is a lot more difficult than it sounds when you have carnivores for a siblings. When she felt that she did a satisfactory enough job, she'd slap my back, as if though putting on a label on me, and would cry out,"Miki Hiyama approved!"

I winced. "U-uh, th-thank you?"

With a sly smirk plastered on his thin face, Ron leaned over from his seat and gave Mikuo a sharp jab to his ribs. "Maybe you should come to school looking like that one day and have Miki's hands all over-"

Mikuo's face turned a bright shade of red and sputtered,"Sh-shut up!"

I couldn't help but scowl. Even though I wanted nothing else to do with her, she was still a person, a girl, above everything else. It was so tiring hearing them use her self as a reference for something else, and most of the time it was in such a lewd context that it flew over her big hair. Despite her vast knowledge, that sort of stuff was a mystery to her and she would only blink in confusion, trying to dissect the information so that it would make sense to her. I started to tell them - again - that Miki wasn't some kind of "toy", but as always, Dell was always the eager one to cut me off.

After he knew that it was safe to ask, Mikuo turned to Miki again and asked his daily question: "Are you and Akaito still dating."

She looked at him before nibbling on her yellow sweater sleeve, apparently thinking about it. "I. . . guess so. . ." She mused, a little unsure. I wouldn't blame her. The majority of my family don't even know about the relationship's position anymore. It was almost sudden, the day Akaito and Miki just stopped talking. And they went pretty steady for roughly four years. And that was a _long_ time.

However, that didn't deter the teal-haired youth. "Awesome!" He beamed. I'm pretty sure he didn't get what she meant because Ron just shook his head and Dell and I rolled our eyes. He turned red and sputtered an apology. I didn't care for one, no difference to me whether or not he did.

Before either of us could say another word, Dell flipped his cell from his pocket and checked the small screen before nudging Ron and Mikuo. "Time to go guys, or we'll end up like Kaito... Not that Mikuo would mind-"

"Can we _just_ go now?" He interrupted, clearly not over his earlier display.

When they were finally out of the room, I decided to sit in my usual seat, at Miki's left. She was quiet for a while, nibbling on her sleeve again. She was clearly thinking about something. She only chewed on her hair whenever she was nervous or scared, and she would chew on her sleeves if she was busy thinking. I wonder if she even realizes that? Probably not since she didn't even know about her nose flaring at every lie she told. Finally, she spoke up.

"Hey Kaito?"

"Hm?" I hummed, turning to look at her.

Her red eyes were wide with curiosity when she turned to look up at my face. "Know anything about a new transfer student?"

I shook my head. I did just get here after all. "No, why?"

She shrugged and tried to smooth out of her abused sleeve. "The guys were making a big deal of one coming over to the school, she's gotta be something to actually get their attention."

"Miki, they're guys talking about a girl, it can't be much. Besides, they talk about you." I mumbled the last part. I knew she wouldn't be too happy with that.

She tilted her head my side, straining to catch what I had said. "What was that?"

"I said they talk about minchis." I quickly made up. Thankfully, it was enough to distract her.

"What are those?"

"N-nothing."

Before she could open her mouth again to question me, our teacher came through the door and placed her satchel on her desk. "Good morning, class~" she chimed and waited for us to repeat. When we did, she smiled softly at us all and rearranged her glasses. "Class," she began,"We will be having a new transfer student grace our classroom."

Miki visibly sat up straighter and smiled. This was the piece of news that she was waiting for.

Our teacher spoke up again."I would wish for you all to be kind to our new student. Please welcome the prestigious Hatsune Miku!"

The sound of heels clicking on the waxed floors, the click of the doorknob being turned and opened, and a faint scent of lavender and french vanilla entered the room. Miki and the rest of the class looked towards the direction of the door and saw a petite young woman who had strikingly similar teal hair that was held up in high pigtails and had the most clearest pair of aquamarine-colored eyes.

A faint blush was prominent on her pale complexion and she averted her eyes from the class for a moment before shyly smiling at us. "Hello and please take care of me, I look forward to meeting each and every one of you~!" she said in a clear and sweet voice.

The whole class became a mob that couldn't be tame, even by Yukari-sensei's commands. The whole class had run up to her, minus Miki and myself, as they ran up to her and asked for a handshake, an autograph, or at least be able to touch a lock of her hair to prove that she was real. One of Japan's most popular pop star was present in our class. As an _enrolled_ student.

While many didn't bother to hide the excitement, Miki appeared unimpressed as her eyes bore into Hatsune-san's body, almost as if though she was studying her. "I don't like her," she bluntly stated with a slight click of her tongue in contempt. After staring at her for another minute or two, she slowly shook her head. "Can you believe her, Kaito? Demanding all that attention on her, she should at least try to -" She stopped when she looked up at my face. Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion and brought her hand up to lightly brush my cheeks with the ends of her fingers. I nearly jumped out of my seat from her touch and felt my heart race at a faster pace. That look in her eyes scared me a little.

I made a move to ignore her by staring right at the new girl, hoping and praying that the heat on my face would die down, but oh gawd, I just knew how to attract trouble. Suddenly losing interest in her horde of fans, Hatsune-san noticed that I had shifted my attention towards her and her formally shy smile changed to a not-so-shy one.

The girl pushed through the crowd and walked towards us. She made her way through the desks and plopped herself right on top of Miki's desk and crossed her legs while she looked at me with innocent eyes.

"Hello there, I don't think you've properly introduced yourself?" she mused.

I knew that I must have looked flustered in front of everyone. I wasn't used to girls acting like that. Other than Miki, I was friends with Teto, Momo, Iroha, Rin, and Mizki. But neither of them have acted like that, and certainly not Miki. "O-oh! U-um, I'm K-Kaito," I answered.

She giggled. "Well, nice to meet you K-Kaito!" she said with a light lilt.

I let out a nervous laugh, not really appreciating the teasing but that could be because I hadn't experienced that before. In either case, Miki also wasn't too keen on it.

"Excuse me," she piped up with a bored look. She crossed her arms for an added affect.

Hatsune-san returned the same look of indifference. "What do you want?" she coolly asked.

Miki looked ready to rip her face off they way her nails dug into her arms. "Don't treat _my_ best friend like that," she snapped, adding emphasis on the fact that I was hers,"that was rude and-"

"It's okay, Miki! She was just asking for my name." I had to cut her off. I didn't want any trouble on Hatsune-san's first day, and I certainly didn't want to be the cause of it all. For what I had believed was a trick of the eyes, I noticed that Miki's eyes had softened and she actually looked hurt. But it only lasted for a second because she soon averted her eyes when Hatsune-san sat behind me, so I wasn't sure. And it really didn't seem to help when Hatsune-san had to speak up again.

"My, my, K-Kaito, you have a very nosy friend~!"

Though I don't disagree with that statement, Miki was making me feel uncomfortable acting like that. For years, she had been acting somewhat. . . bubbly. Happier, really, ever since she and Akaito had started hanging out. They'd walk home from school arm-in-arm, talk about what they did, complain about the amount of work giving to them. I couldn't recall a time when she wasn't smiling. Whenever she frowned, it was fake and had learned to successfully manipulate my brothers by using _"the pout"_ to her full advantage; the only feminine tactic that she knew. Until that time. For the next four years, Miki would have a reason to revert back to her old, meloncholic self. Unfortunately, I found that out all too late.

* * *

><p>The severity of the issue didn't show itself until much later in the year during English. It was a class that I had shared with both girls and it was during this time that I was starting to shy away from Miki and would always seat in the middle. Between the heated glares shot at each other, they were incredibly competitive with each other, vying for the highest score. Miki always trumped her, however. That year also brought forth a new member to our school, a face very similar to a feisty redhead who had silver hair and was of Germanic-Japanese decent.<p>

Piko wasn't a frequent visit during the school year, unless it was summer break. He was the quiet sort, only inputting his two cents when asked for but had a temper and a tongue that rivaled Miki's. They were related by blood by some unusual family members. While it was a mystery how Miki and her late brother had red hair and eyes from a dark haired, dark-eyed father and a rose haired, blue-eyed mother, Piko seemed to be the greatest oddity of them yet. Even though he had a full head of silver that was his natural color and a mix-matched optical pair of green and blue, his mother had mouse brown hair and chestnut eyes. And his father had royal purple hair and deep sky blue eyes. And they _claim_ that he is their biological son.

Maybe I should have studied to be a genealogist, or at least used Ancestry dot com or something to track down their family tree to answer that mystery, but it never seemed to bother them. So I never actually said anything about it out loud and I just left it alone.

Piko and Miki were related to each other on both sides of their families. His mother, Meiko, was actually Kiyoteru's older sister, two years his major. But she wasn't the only sibling that he had. She had a twin, who was married to Luka's younger brother, Luki. And you know what? Meiko's twin is a guy. But everybody seems totally okay with that, especially since they were married in Sweden, and it was legal to do so. Miki always seemed to love the idea of having two uncles. Funny how my dad was always wary of them every time they came to visit the neighborhood from their "cozy" home of Manhattan. Miki's family is one in a million, if you ask me.

Well, I got kind of off topic there, but I kind of also wanted to give you some background information about them. Piko was born in some part of Germany, the idea being his mom's entirely. He seems to hold some kind of hatred against her, but I never knew why until I heard that by the age of eighteen, all citizens that were natives of the country had to enlist into the army. It was a mandatory decree. He ended up just fine, though, thankfully.

Anyways, off topic, again. Because of the distance that was steadily growing between Miki and me, I was with Gakupo, Len, Miku (she later told me to call her that and to stop being so formal around her), and a few other people whereas Miki stayed at the other side with Piko. They quickly became labeled "undesirables" after a dispute that Miku and Miki had, but it was only a small spat between them when it came to who sat where in the class. Miku happened to want to sit in the same seat that Miki did. Of course, she refused to move. Until Miku made a move to want to sit on my lap and Miki slipped out of her seat before we knew it.

Piko and Miku were on bad terms because of a mistake that she had made that, really, anybody would have made. Unlike Miki - whose face was a little bit longer and more oval shape - , Piko's face was rounder and looked softer around his cheeks. His eyes were fairly large, but they were always half-lidded, like he was bored all the time, and he had long thick lashes that most of the girls had to fake it to get that look. Miku made a comment once about him having the kind of skin that took girls forever to find the right creams. She even added that it was a shame that he was a boy, his looks were wasted on a person who could care less. That was the only compliment I've ever heard of her say about him. If I could call it that. She bumped into him, apologized, said that he looked like a pretty girl, and then he went off on her and, well, apparently hating the same enemy could be genetic, I guess.

But she had plenty to complain about Miki. Miki's face was too long, Miki's cheekbones were too high and showy, Miki looked like an anorexic, Miki's freckles on her nose was atrocious (I've always thought those five, light specks on her nose were kind of cute because Kaiko had some, too), Miki's legs were too thin, Miki was too short, her hair was too long, et cetera et cetera. There was always something, but she got better.

Miku's first week was kind of rough, with all of the unwanted help from others and she decided to make her point come across when she one day announced at lunch that I was to be her "escort". It was random, I admit, but I couldn't help the color rushing to my face from feeling all of those eyes boring into my being. I was targeted as the most hated guy because I - somehow - had managed to grab her attention against everyone else. I'm pretty sure that there were others that were a lot more capable of actually having zero problems talking to her (she didn't mind my nervous stutter, thankfully. She said she found it kind of "adorable"). But, regardless, I was her aide and she seemed content with that. She was a lot nicer than what I had expected. You would think that a star like herself would be a bit spoiled (well, I say a bit, mind you), but she was pretty calm and nice to talk to. It felt pretty different being around her, without any fear that if I said anything wrong that she wouldn't penalize and criticize me for it. Somehow, I felt even more comfortable speaking with her than with somebody who's been with me my whole life. She made it easy to smile and to laugh. She actually made me feel as if though she cared for what I thought and those old feelings that I had held for Miki started to dissolve, little by little, so that the next time she and I accidentally brushed against each other, I felt nothing at all.

However, the times where peace was available was short-lived, and it all had to happen in English. It was a little more than five months after Miku's arrival and once our teacher walked in and after the class had finally settled down. He wrote a sentence on the board and turned to Miku. "Hatsune-san, could you read this sentence aloud for me?" he asked.

Miku smiled and gave him a short nod. "Of course~!" She chirped, flipped her hair out of the way, which barely brushed against Len's face, and stood up from her seat to recite the sentence.

The sentence that he wrote out was "The man surprised the dog". An easy one, actually, since Miki's mom used to help us with our pronunciation. Miki was pretty quick at learning Japanese because her mom kept teaching her as she got older, but she would sometimes help her with English, too, since she is still an English girl. However, I didn't think that Miku would stumble a bit on the word "surprise", but I guess it was expected because she wasn't used to the language, maybe.

Our teacher gave her a tense smile because he knew as well as we all did that Miku hates being wrong that she's wrong, even if it was pretty obvious. But she never acted out because of it, just tried to fish her way out of it and still keep her way with it. So he tried to take it slow. "Errr, Miku? You mispronounced 'surprised'."

She gave him a quizzical look. "No I didn't, I said it the way it's suppose to be said," she said defensively. She was so sure of herself and the silence that filled the room proved that nobody was going to go against her word. But we thought wrong.

"No you didn't," a familiar voice shot at her, "it's not pronounced as 'suhpleesed'. You pronounce it as 'sur-prized'." The faint accent showed through and I noticed that the whole class went dead silent. You could probably even hear a pin drop on the carpeted floor. Miki openly denounced Miku. She seemed a little surprised herself at what she had done and looked over to her cousin's direction to see a proud smirk on his face while the rest of the class was in awe.

Miku looked at her long and hard before giving her a tense smile. It was so forced that you could even see her lips twitching. She tried her best to talk in her sweetest voice possible when she addressed her antagonist. "Oh. Well, y-you are right, aren't you? Being from England really did have it's advantages, _didn't it_?" She said the last bit through her clenched, pearly white teeth.

Miki quirked a brow, possibly surprised that she knew that much about her, and shrugged. "I guess you could say that, but I only lived there for less than five years of my life and currently you see me in Japan. My parents don't even speak it anymore, I guess I just have good retention memory is all," she as blasé as possible.

And then that was when I noticed a change in Miku. She stared down at the smaller girl with malicious eyes, her hands were trembling at her sides. There wasn't a single doubt in my mind that she wanted to inflict some kind of pain to her for the public humiliation. As much as I dislike that sort of attitude, Miki could have kept her mouth shut for once and to stop acting like such a know-it-all and just let Miku have this one. After all, she was new and she would learn, why bother arguing? The class was eerily silent, anticipation Miku's next move. However, we never did get to see and hear anything else between the two because our teacher cleared his throat and announced that we should just carry on with a different task. He even thanked Miki for "helping" Miku.

And that was when I learned that Miki was more of a hellion that what we gave her credit for when I saw her smirk at Miku, forcing her to snap her pencil in half to compose herself. Enough was enough. If Miki could think that trying to get the upper hand on someone who was not only new, but a person who was of a pretty high caliber like Miku, then I would be the one to tell her otherwise.

So I did just that when out teacher dismissed us.

"Why did you do that?" I demanded once I caught up to her brisk pace. I hadn't realized that we had stopped speaking for each other for so long that I mistook her look of surprise as one that tried to hide the shame of what she did.

Instead, she shrugged again and kept her eyes focused on what was going on in front of her. "Why not?" she asked. "I was just helping her is a-"

"Oh don't give me that bullshit." The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew it. I didn't know why I was suddenly so _angry_ with her, but I just was. It was like all of my pent up frustrations with her just decided to come out of hiding and wanted to attack her at full force.

She stopped walking, mouth slightly agape, that I had uttered something like that towards her. But she shook it off as her mouth closed up, her brows tightly knitted together and her lips tugged down to form a scowl. "What the hell are you talking about? I got annoyed that she acted like she said it the way it's suppose to when she _obviously_ didn't and then try to bulldoze it over-"

"Because you don't like her." I interrupted.

"So? I was only trying to be a good peer and-"

"Miki, don't lie to me. I know when you are, I know how you treat people by how you talk to them. You should give Hatsune-sama more-"

"Hatsune-sama? _Hatsune-sama_? Since when did you start calling her that?" She shouted.

I didn't think I'd give her that much respect either, but I somehow felt pretty defensive over her now. We both didn't seem to notice the crowd of people were attracting when I shook my head in disgust."Will you just stop for a moment and listen to yourself-"

"Listen to _myself_?" She cut me off. "What about you? If I had a tape recorder right now, I'd love to replay your voice back to you and prove to you just how stupid you sound defending a pompous bitch like-"

"Don't you _dare_ call her that!"

I could see how tightly closed her jaw was out of anger and her usual pale cheeks changed to a dark red.

I never realized just how childish she appeared with those tricks until then. What I had found endearing in her was now just plain annoying and immature since she was already fifteen. I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at her. In all honesty, this was really the very first fight she and I had when we were both fed up with one another and let our words get the best of us.

"What is it now? Are you going to pout because you can't have it your way? It doesn't hurt to be nice to people you know, even if-"

"Well look who's talking! What about Dell? What about him and his friends? They're mine and you hate them! You haven't even tried being nice to them, I don't even-"

"And just why the hell should I? He tried to fight you-"

"We were nine! That was ages ago! He's made plenty attempts at trying to be nice to you, but you just keep pushing him aside as if though-"

"Like I'd ever forgive that bastard-"

"Now don't _you_ call _him_ that!"

"Oh, so you think that you're the only one who can call my friends names like that?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? Miku isn't your friend, there's nowhere in hell you'd ever befriend a girl like that-"

"And what made you think I liked being friends with girls like you?"

Bullseye.

I really didn't mean it the way it sounded. She probably thought I was referring to her condition when I really meant by her usual attitude when she wasn't lost in her head. I could never have been angry enough to hit her so low but it was too late. Her eyes dulled in hatred for me and I saw how they began to glimmer, a sign that I was familiar with whenever she was close to tears, and clenched her small fists. "Hm, that's funny," she started, "you had no one as your friend when we were little. From what Akaito had told me, you were always that sad, lonely little brat who stayed indoors during the day, _just_ because he didn't know how to talk to people."

I sharply inhaled some air to keep myself from talking tensed up. I didn't' understand why I decided to back down at the worst possible moment, but I still did it. Maybe I wanted to hear her out, hear what she really thought of me all those years together, the lies she hid from me because she had the gall to believe that I couldn't take it.

"Oh, and don't let me stop there. Who was the one who helped you when things were bad? Who stood up for you when you needed help? Who showed you the secret pond that you and I used to spend most of our summer days in?"

I remembered that. We were seven then, just a few weeks before our experimental kiss, when the sun was unforgiving and we were all too lazy and hot to go anywhere but hide in the tree house. Even that didn't spare us from the discomfort as it soon began to feel stuffy with our body heat. She fanned her face with a piece of paper with a doodle she made of me, my brother, and herself with her brother's favorite pen.

"It's soooo hot!" she whined. Akaito rolled his eyes at her but I nodded in agreement with her.

Just like all of her little quirks, her ahoge actually perked up and she turned around to face us, her eyes holding an impish gleam to them. We both recognized that look and Akaito was the first to bolt out of there, suddenly discovering a reservoir of energy that he probably hadn't realized that he had. So he left me alone to suffer. And that was when I couldn't say no to her and I let her take me away. She tried being playful by covering my eyes with her hands and telling me clues on how to get there. When I felt something cool and wet touch my feet, I immediately backed up and knocked into her. We almost fell backwards, but she dug her heels into the mud and kept us upright and pushed me forward, surprisingly not too hard so that I wouldn't fall into the pond. When I turned around to look at her, she had this annoyed look on her face and crossed her arms across her chest.

"You almost stepped on my feet. I don't have shoes on," she stated and even showed me her muddy feet. Before I could apologize, she started taking off her t-shirt.

"M-Mii-chan!" I stuttered. "Wh-what're you do-"

"Gonna swim. What else does it look like to ya?" she asked and revealed that she had a black tank top underneath. "Do ya know how?" She asked. Her smile practically broke her face when she saw me shake my head. "Really? Lemme teach ya!" she demanded and started to strip me of my shirt. For someone so small, she managed to easily remove my shirt and hung it on a tree limb along with hers.

True to her word, she really tried to help. It was possibly the scariest thing I'd ever gone through, even though she clung to my waist when we went deeper. She held my hands when she tried to get me to float on my stomach and held my neck when she got me to lay back. It was hard for me to float at first, but I managed to get the hang of it. It was a bit awkward at first, our little chasing games when I was doing the dog paddle while she was moving as graceful as I had ever seen her. I could see why she liked swimming so much besides being a great way to cool off on hot days. At first, my mom became upset, as usual, when she saw how soaked we were and when Miki admitted that she took me out to swim. She cut my mom off to tell her that she taught me how and that she should think about taking my brothers and I to the pool at the park. Those were just one of the few fond memories that I had with her. But they did her no good now.

"Shut up!" I shouted back at her, forcing my mind out of the past and forcing myself to focuse on what was happening right now between us. "You didn't know-"

"Know what? Know that you were socially deprived until I came along? There was plenty of kids out there in the neighborhood to play! Dell wasn't the only one. There's Ron, Nero, Ted, Zansho, Gumo, Li, hell there's a whole bunch! But you stuck to me, like some kind of lost puppy. Without me, you'd still be a sad and lonely boy!"

She probably didn't realize that she was practically yelling at me in the hallway. She was just that livid. As instantly as her tantrum came, the color from her face darkened, but in embarrassment rather than anger. She had sounded so vindictive that I actually felt those words cut through me.

Eyes wide, breathing ragged, I almost couldn't believe that that was happening. _Was that what she really thought of me?_

Suddenly, our promise to each other came back to me at that moment, the childish pinky promise we made to each other to always be friends when we were alone in her room. If I had known that something like this would have happened between us, I would have never asked him to do such a thing. I wouldn't be feeling like I had just severed the last strain of our bond. All because I felt that she was unjust to one person.

We just stood there for a long while until we both turned towards the direction of tapping heels.

"Oh my gosh! Those were horrible things to say to poor Kai-Kai!"

I knew she meant well, that she was worried for me, but Miku, if only you knew Miki, if only you knew what kind of person she is. Miki acted on actions alone and tackled her. It was almost déjà vu, except Mikuo wasn't around to help and that it was Miku that was underneath Miki, not Dell. It took several people to try and stop her from trying to do more damage to Miku, including myself. I was about to grab hold of Miki's wrists and drag her away, but someone else beat me to it and actually dragged her away by twisting her arm behind her with one hand while keeping a fistful of her hair in his other. I wanted to stop him, to tell him that that was no way to hold her, he's hurting her! But Miku called my name and I knew that I shouldn't let Miki be my priority any more. After all, didn't I mean nothing to her? Just some boy she took pity on. From then on, I made the choice to be with her because she actually made me feel wanted, like I wasn't the third wheel, like she really did value my opinion. I'm sorry Miki, but you had your chance, you just didn't know when and how to take it.

* * *

><p>Word Count- 6,011. Total Editing Time- 52 minutes and 04.5 seconds<p>

And in case you're wondering who Piko's dad is, he's the UTAUloid Deon. Just figured that he'd be a good to be paired up with Meiko. XD


	22. Reflect

Regrettably, I found it easier being able to smile around Miku. She really was so much easier to talk to without worry and her voice, Kami her voice. It kept pulling me in and I wanted to be there to hear it always. I never knew I could feel that way for a person, she made it seem so easy that I couldn't help the inevitable attraction that held to her. Sure, she was lovely to look at and actually cared for her appearance (she fussed over it so much during her recovery time from Miki's blows). There wasn't a day that went by when she didn't ask for how I felt about something.

"Kai-Kai?"

The old nickname jolted me out of my thoughts and I felt a little wary for a moment before realizing that it was Miku who said it, not somebody else. "Yes?" I still wasn't used to her recycling it, but she seemed happy to use it, so I let her.

She practically beamed when I gave her my attention before her face began to flush a soft pink and looked down at her hands resting on her lap. "I, uh, well. . . I have a photo shoot later today, but I was kind of wondering if, you know, afterwards, you and I could. . ." She trailed off to play with a strand of her hair and I smiled. She was actually a pretty shy person when we were alone and I couldn't help but find her quirks charming.

"Where would you like to go?"

Reassured by what I said, she looked back up at me to answer. "When I was walking here, I noticed a man pushing an ice cream cart and I was kind of wondering that if he's, you know, still there. . . Maybe you'd like to get a scoop with me?"

Like everyone else, she realized that I had a taste for that. And, like Miki, thought that it was strange that I sometimes did eat it with chopsticks if I couldn't find a spoon (or even a fork). But she accepted it a lot quicker than what I had expected and even started taking up the habit of trying to eat with them. I accepted her offer and she clapped her hands together with glee.

"Really? Great! We'll meet at the park, then, say. . . At six?"

"Six sounds great to me."

"Wonderful~!" She sang before turning her attention back to Yukari-sensei.

* * *

><p>First year came and went and Miki and I hadn't spoken to each other for that period of time. We both did our best to stay away from each other - unless we had classes together when we just sat at opposite sides of the room - and she found comfort in her cousin. It was just those two whereas I was grouped with Miku and all of her "friends" that she made. Lunch was always crowded at the table with people fighting for the chair on her left (she insisted I stayed at her right) and more often than not, Rin would be the one to claim that prize.<p>

Kagamine Rin is Len's twin sister, older than him by twenty minutes. She's normally a sweet girl who just so happened to have quite a temper to compensate for her height. She loved writing, oranges, teasing her brother, and being by Miku's side to help her with anything that she needed. If anything, I guess that it would have been safe to assume that Rin was more like Miku's true friend because of all the sleepovers, secrets, and giggles that they shared together when I was unavailable. Some found it interesting that the mild-mannered, beautiful and pristine Hatsune Miku would actually let Rin hang around her, but they were since she enjoyed her company and that was that.

That little segment was from first year and other than the fact that I was nearly trampled in the process of all of her doting fans to join her, it was pretty quiet, over all. Well, I can't very well not tell you anything that had happened after my fight with a certain redhead, so I'll just tell you what I did on the day of Dell's, Ron's, Mikuo's and Nero's graduation.

Yes, surprise surprise, I actually did go to the Graduation Ceremony to see the boys off and perhaps even say a few encouraging words to them when I saw that Miki and Piko were among the people who was present for it. She wore simple casual clothes and she was acting pretty melancholic until Piko turned to her and told her something that caused her to jump to her feet and yell out,"DELI! CONGRATS!"

I couldn't help it when I saw the dumbstruck faces of the people and students as she boastfully slapped her thighs before sitting down that caused me to smile. She was so weird sometimes and I knew that wasn't something Piko was hoping for the way he slapped his forehead. Regardless she laughed, completely at ease with her antics as the crowd of people slowly calmed down to let the ceremony continue. Of course it would've, though. And Miki just wouldn't be Miki if there weren't people looking at her. She's not conceited or anything, she just likes to be heard, from what I've noticed. Or maybe she genuinely wanted to say that Dell.

Second year, however, was pretty interesting.

A pair of girls, one with gold hair and the other with green, sat at Miku's usual table. Realizing that I had never seen them before, I could tell that they were new and that they didn't know where they were at and Miku was walking up to them to rectify it. She was polite, trying to explain to them that it was her seat and mentioned a few more things that I didn't quite exactly catch. Suddenly, the blonde grew angry and rose up from her seat so fast that she knocked the chair back. The canteen was silent, save for the rattling chair, as all eyes scanned the area in search of the commotion.

I heard a whimper and saw that the girl with green hair was tugging on the blond's sleeve, trying to coax her to calm down and leave but she snatched her hand away from her. Miku was pretty surprised as well and nervously tried to reason with her.

"C-calm down! You can sit at our table, I only said it just so that -"

My eyes widen at the language the blond started using as she grabbed the other girl's wrist and their lunches with her free hand before storming out of there.

They looked a little lost and as much as I wanted to hep them, I had a feeling that Miku wouldn't be too forgiving about that, so I decided to take my usual seat when a flash of red caught my attention. Miki was making her way towards the two with a friendly smile and started talking to them when she reached them. The blond didn't appear trusting, but the other girl thought otherwise as she happily accepted Miki's offer and pretty much dragged the girl to Miki's table. It used to be just Piko and Miki, just the two of them, but then it expanded to include the new arrivals. Before we knew it, they became a pretty close nit group, despite the fact that Miki and the blond girl didn't always appear civil with each other they way the would shoot heated glares at one another.

But on that day they joined, I let my eyes rest on their table for far too long. While Miki was busy smiling and giggling, her eyes trailed up to our table and her smile faltered, but it didn't quite turn into a frown, but still a little less of a smile. I quickly looked down at my bento and I'm sure she did the same, too. I only meant to see how the newcomers were reacting, I never meant to let her see that I was watching. But she made no show about it and probably went on eating.

"Kaito? Something wrong?"

I quickly looked up to see that Miku was talking to me again. I slowly shook my head. "No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Promise."

That soothed her nerves and she turned to look at Rin again and started picking up where they left off. When I was sure she was distracted by Rin, I let my eyes wander to her table again and I saw how she was acting around the new girls. She was smiling at the girl with green hair (she was now wearing red rimmed glasses) who was clinging onto a red-faced Piko. Even the blond looked like she was enjoying the scene the way her hard cobalt eyes had softened. I guess even when it comes to harsh people like that, even Miki's able to befriend them. That shouldn't have surprised me, though, she is friends with Dell Honne of all people. I still would have preferred that she'd been friends with Haku, even if she's as old as Neru. I would have been more content.

Even though that never happened - Haku could never keep up with Miki's hyperness, demands and schemes - at least she's content, for the most part. I haven't kept in contact with her after she left. Anyways, I shouldn't be talking about others unless it concerns with what we're talking about, so I'll try to stay on topic as much as possible.

After the months came and went, summer dawned upon us sooner than I had expected. Miku was pretty busy with her work so I had some time to myself for those two weeks. Nothing much that I did, really, and I didn't really visit any of the neighbors.

Piko helped Miki in avoiding me by asking his parents to take her with them to their summer villa in Portugal. I heard a few things that had happened, such as her falling in love with a nice boy and that days after coming back home he was killed before she even admitted to him. Whether she knew it or not, he confessed to her first.

The day she came back home out of her parents car, she held fast to a small pot of tiny star-shaped white and maroon colored flowers. I recognized them right away thanks to her Mom teaching us several years ago. Those types of plants were known as gloxinias. Even though those were more native in Bolivia and Costa Rica, the boy's family must have been able to get some anyways and planted them. I also knew the meaning of them that she probably had forgotten, though I'm still doubtful of that. Gloxinia's symbolize love at first sight.

Though that was years ago, I'm still not sure if she knew or even remembered that, the way she cradled them against her chest proved that she treasured it and kept it as a house plant to tend to. She was incredibly distraught the day she came back from the funeral and I hadn't seen her walk out of her home until the last few days of her break. It was pretty painful seeing her come back, actually. Her eyes were dull, she looked paler and thinner than what I could remember that even Piko had to try and coax her to eat more at lunch. Though that wasn't the only thing that might've pushed her a bit that year.

Towards the middle of the school year, Miki's parents separated. The counselor already knew about Miki's condition and tried to consult her on many occasions, hoping to have her open up to her and spill out her feelings to the old woman. To her - and everybody else's - surprise, she was sent to a carefully selected therapist. It was supposed to be under wraps, but one damn teacher couldn't keep their mouth shut and then a student heard about it and told another student and before we knew it, the rumor had spread and the damage had been done. Had I known who the real perpetrator was at that point, then I would have fought dirty as well and spilled some of her precious secrets, but I was foolish and didn't know any better and allowed for the mess to happen because of my naivete.

Miki seemed all right when she came back, though. Then again, I'm not too sure since I never did walk up to her and ask her directly if she was. She also didn't seem bothered by the rumors that flew around about her, spreading false theories about the reasons why she went there. Despite the fact that she appeared immuned to the hushed tones and snickers in the hallways, Piko was not. He was only a few inches shorter than her (short family is all I can say), but he was still pretty damn intimidating that he actually managed to halt the rumors for a good while. I still wonder what that kid said to them. . .

On the days when Miku was busy to take me out to places and for ice cream, I usually hung around my other friends. You remember Gakupo and Len, right? Well, of course you haven't met them, but I've mentioned them before, I'm sure. Well, during one of those days I was invited over to Gakupo's to hang out and study for a science exam with Len. Gakupo's was more traditional compared to mine and Len's places, which were westernized so because of that he wasn't really comfortable visiting us. Odd, yeah, but we never forced him to come over. And we were content as is just being with him since the three of us rarely talk to each other ever since Miku came.

"She sure eats up a lot of your time, y'know."

I knew who Len was talking about as I marked through a phrase on my paper. "She just likes to chat and hang out a lot, that's all."

Len didn't seem convinced as he balanced his pencil on his index finger. "But has it ever occurred to you just how weird it was that she zeroed in on you on her first day?" he reminded me, his eyes never leaving the pencil.

"She didn't 'zero' in on me." _She just happened to notice me, is all_. I thought.

"Maybe because he wasn't one of the people that was practically drooling and worshiping the very ground she walked on?" Gakupo suggested.

"Or it could be because she thought he had a nice face," Len remarked with an impish grin that he greatly resembled his demonic sister. That look unnerved me as much as his statement.

"That can't be it," I argued.

Gakupo shrugged. "Should explain a lot of things, actually," he pointed out.

I raised a brow. "Really? How?"

Len let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, you're more dense than what I gave you credit for. . ." he tiredly said. I frowned, slightly insulted by that but I couldn't tell him that because Gakupo spoke up.

"Just because you're jealous that Miku took your best friend away from you doesn't mean you should be spiteful to Kaito, you know," he playfully admonished the blond.

Len slowly tilted his head up to glare at him. "Why're you saying it like that?" he cautiously asked. "He _is_ her boyfriend after all."

"I never agreed to that."

They turned to look at me while I squirmed a bit on the tatami mat. It was true, though. We may spend a lot of time together, but I never asked and neither did she. At most, we would sometimes hold hands but that was when she was hyped up to going out somewhere and didn't want to use up too much time walking. She normally preferred walking than being drove around, actually. But really, that was perhaps the most we've ever done. So I was a bit surprised that they thought I was actually with her.

"Then. . . why are you letting her use up all of your time?" Len asked.

I shrugged. "She just looked like she wanted a friend."

"She already has plenty." Len reminded us.

"He probably meant a sane one," Gakupo corrected. "Speaking of sane, what about Miki-chan?"I stopped writing and felt my body go rigid and cold. It was weird how badly I reacted to just hearing her name. "You two were awfully close." he added, oblivious to my discomfort.

Len eyed me carefully."Is she all right?" he asked. "Y'know, the mess with her parents and the trip to the doctor?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Len frowned. "Why not? Did you really let that fight break you two?"

Again, I shrugged. "She didn't want to talk to me anymore, she looked like she wanted spa- OW!"

"You really are incredibly stupid, y'know that?" he snapped.

"And I think you've got a crush on Teto since you used her catchphrase," I fired back, only to be at the receiving end of his textbook again.

"You are, y'know it, and I do not!" he denied, aiming to land another one at my head if Gakupo hadn't intervened.

"That's expensive, don't be so brash with that. Aren't you supposed to be the calm one?"

"Only when Rin's around."

"Makes sense."

"Can I have some ice, please?"

"You mean a tub, don't cha?"

"No! . . .Though that would be nice, especially vanill-AHH!"

"Can't you stop thinking about that stuff for one day?"

"And can't you stop eating bananas for one day?"

"They're full of potassium and make great brain food; ice cream is nothing but fat and calories and cholesterol in a carton, gallon, and whatever the hell other kind of container it comes in!"

We heard a sigh slip out of Gakupo. "I swear, it's no wonder how some people think you're cheating on Miku with Len. You two sometimes argue like a married couple."

Somehow, the room grew incredibly warm and stuffy. "We do not!" we cried in unison.

Gakupo smirked. "Aww, would you look at that? You guys even say the same thing at the same time! You two were meant for each other."

"Rin would have your neck if she heard you say that," Len warned with a dark look.

"Yeah, and he's too caught up with Teto," I added.

"I swear, you suggest that one more time, just _one_ more time, I'll-"

"Can we please get back to the task at hand?"

"But didn't you ask Kaito about Mii-chan?"

"Yes, but-"

"Who said you can call her that?"

"So you still care."

"What?"

Len slammed his face onto the table, leaving a nice red welt on his forehead. "BAKAITO!" he screamed before grabbing a pillow and screamed into it. I swear, he really _does_ act more like a girl than his own twin sister. . .

When he was finished, his cheeks were tainted pink and he brushed his bangs to the side. "You're an idiot."

"I think you've already established that."

"How can you not tell that you still care for her?"

"After everything she's done to me? You think I still would?"

"Therapy session?" Gakupo helpfully suggested.

"Obviously if you don't like it when I call her Mii-chan, Mii-Mii, Ki-"

I hung my head and sighed. "Okay, okay, I get it. I don't know why that is, all right? So don't go and over think that maybe I-"

"Not a maybe, you still do."

"Since when did we get onto the topic of Miki?"

"When Gakupo said that Miku wanted a sane friend and than asked how your former insane friend was doing."

"She is _not_ insane." I snapped.

Len looked pleased by my outburst and grinned. "Y'know, she is pretty cute, despite having a few loose screws. And Piko looks a little overworked having to look after her. I don't think she'd mind if I-"

"Don't, just _don't_."

"Did I just strike a nerve?"

Now he was just being obnoxious because he knew he could. Instead of answering him, I went ahead and focused my energy into my work, hoping that he'd take the hint and drop it.

He didn't.

"Remember in Psychology we had an Otaku for a sensei? And then within our first week he asked us to write a paper about Tsunderes?"

I knew where he was going with this. . .

"And how a lot of people find them appealing even though they're cold to you at first and can be complete and total jerk asses?"

"Yes, I remember," Gakupo said, probably a little tired of being left out.

"Miki's a tsundere, a type A, I'm sure. Wasn't she his favorite student because of tha-"

"Get on with your point." I griped.

He smirked. "I think you initially found Miki appealing because of the gain-loss effect. Essentially, when someone is consistently unpleasant towards you, it establishes a behavioral baseline that colors your expectations. When that person - Miki - becomes more pleasant, even if it's by a _tiny_ amount, you interpret that as progress, which is psychologically stimulating. _You feel more accomplished knowing that you're the one that makes her happy_."

I didn't know how to respond to that. I was at a loss for words at that because, well. . . It was actually pretty much true. Sure, he didn't know that most of it was because I felt guilty and sorry for her because of how hard her life has been on her even as a toddler, but I was normally turned off by people with horrid personalities, like Dell. However, Miki could be far worse than him, and even before I knew the reason for her actions, I still wanted to be with her. And then there were those moments when I'd smile like a goofball every time I knew I was the one that made her smile, laugh, flustered, or any other action that was considered out of character for her.

So maybe Len was on to something, reminding me of some kind of assignment that we did that I had long forgotten several years ago. Instead of congratulating him for his deduction and psychological (or whatever the hell you call it) skills, I got up and collected my things. When they saw what I was doing, Len shot up from his spot with an apologetic and panicked look on his face.

"Kaito, I was just joking with you, I really didn't mean to actually piss you off like that, I just wanted you to see that-"

"I know. And thank you. But I need time to myself to think." I told him and walked out before he and/or Gakupo could stop me. I could study on my own, anyway.

* * *

><p>When I was alone in my room, eyes trained to count every speck on my ceiling, all the things that Len had told me was on repeat in my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's true, maybe, at least a little bit. Wasn't that why I was so angry, and even a bit malicious, towards her when it looked like she favored my brothers over me? Was it because she had changed to be a more kinder, gentler, and sweeter kind of person because of Akaito? The same person she had claimed, not even <em>days<em> ago at the time, that she hated him? Did I not matter to her, the person who comforted and talked and listened to her for hours on end?

Or maybe I was just looking at all of this the wrong way. I _hoped_ that I was. And why should I get mad at her for that? Shouldn't I be happy that she was happy for that time? And did I really let another person get in the way of that because, guiltily, I wanted to at least have just one _normal_ friend who was a girl? Miku was a sharp contrast with Miki. You can tell what kind of people they were, so I don't really need to repeat their qualities to you. And as I laid there, I was beginning to grow more and more afraid that I let Miku come into my life because I just wanted to use her as a girl that I wanted to know, because I was unhappy with the type of girl Miki was. Even their names were similar; just off by one letter, one sound.

Suddenly, everything I had done at that point seemed so. . . pointless, actually. Like I had wasted the last two years of my life. Sure, Miku did make things pretty exciting and pulled me out of a rut whenever I managed to find myself in one, but didn't I also have a few fun times with Miki? She taught me to swim, for starters. She and I slept over at each other's places a lot. In fact, there was one event that I can recall pretty well about mushrooms and junk food. Okay, you're giving me that weird look again. It's not as bad as you probably think it is, really. Let me tell you about it.

Once, when Miki's parents threw some kind of party with no other reason than to just have fun, I had offhandedly expressed a desire to learn about mushroom hunting to Miki's dad, just making conversation since I felt awkward being surrounded by all of those older men at ten, and a week later a three-hour nature documentary on mycology appeared on my family's doorstep in a bubble-wrapped envelope. Her father was famous for his obliquely relevant videotapes of any old thing he caught on television he thought you might like in his spare time.

Oh, the Evening of Mycology. I immediately brought the tape over to Miki's place, since they were the only one with a VCR that I knew, and I spent the night in her room, laughing together at the ridiculously serious English narrator's lisp while snacking on cherry gummies, ham sandwiches with hummus, almond cookies, mochi, octopus-flavored chips, pints and pints of ice cream and bags filled with cherries. _Most mushwooms awe supwisingly vigowous_.

I sighed. I started wondering if there really was a real reason why I kept thinking like that, about why I was starting to doubt myself and my actions. I was pretty sure they were justified, they had to be. I took something unsatisfactory, something harmful, out and replaced it with something beneficial and more nurturing. Then why was I still hurting, still wondering? Why couldn't my mind just accept the fact that I didn't want her? Why did it make it seem like I can't let her out, that I can't just become another memory, even a horrible one, for her? She's already had so much, she's already been through so much, did I really want to be another reason for her downfall?

With that in mind, I thought I had suddenly turned eight, nine, or maybe even ten again, and waking up next to her after pulling an all nighter of talking tirelessly to each other. She was curled up into a tight ball, her small fists tucked under her chin with a peaceful expression on her face, cocooned in her bed sheets. It was then that I could see just how tiny she really was, how innocent and even _vulnerable_ she was. The blanket almost seemed like it was some kind of barrier separating her from all the cruelties of reality and sheltered her away in her dreams where I hoped she was untroubled, undisturbed.

She reminded me a lot like a porcelain doll, fragile and needed to be handled with care. But I wasn't a careful collector or anything like that. I held her and let her slip through my fingers and did nothing as I watched her fall, fall until she hit the ground, causing several cracks to show themselves on her body. And as the years went on, they became more apparent on the stained figure, lined with dust and wear and tear. And slowly, bits and pieces of her begin to chip off. And as much as I wanted to fix it, I highly doubt that there she'd want to be seen with all of those scars.

* * *

><p>AN:

. . . I was listening to Yuma's and Mizki's Vocasmash version of Hurting for a Very Hurtful Pain and Cyber Thunder Cyder while typing this out, and I guess I kinda, somewhat sorta incorporated what I was thinking into the last couple of paragraphs.^^"

And I actually did read an article about Tsunderes since I'm not that familiar with writing about them. XD I can't remember where I found it, but I did and I used a quote from it to explain Len's reasoning for Kaito's initial friendship with Miki.

Word Count- 5,043. Total Editing Time- 47 minutes and 23 seconds.


	23. Heartache and Realization

A/N:

To answer an Anon. review since I've said this more than once in some chapters:

This story is completely made on the fly. Which is why it seems like the plot is like, everywhere. XD My apologies, but this was something I wanted to try and test myself. As long as this doesn't start sounded like a bunch of mindless gibberish, then hopefully this can last for another seven chapters after this. X'D That's also the reason why I've timed myself and I've been hacking off five minutes every chapter now, so they may be a bit shorter, depending with what mood I'm in. I hope that helps answer your question! Oh, and as for the memories, they're made up out of fear I will lose an idea, really, and I'm very sorry that it irritates you, but I've had more positive reviews about the quirkiness of some of them. But I do take my reader's opinions seriously, so I will refrain from creating anything new, then. I just hope I can come up with something to go around those, though. . . OTL

Long A/N is long and I've used up four minutes already, I'm so sorry. OTL|||

* * *

><p>I'm not a morning person.<p>

At all.

I will gripe, I will bite, and I will fight for my right to sleep that extra five minutes that I'd ask for down to the last nano-second. The problem with that? You can't exactly do that when your phone goes off at around six in the morning and do that to the person on the other line. Unfortunately, that's just not possible.

"Morning, Kai-Kai~" the voice on the other line chirped.

I rubbed a hand over my tired eyes and yawned, hoping to force some oxygen into my brain to wake myself up. It wasn't working.

"Morning. . ." I mumbled into the receiver. I was slipping in and out of consciousness until she squealed on the other end of the phone.

"You're such a kill joy, Kai-Kai. But it could be because I'm just so hyped up on sugar right now and I can't sleep. Well, I just haven't been able to sleep for the past several hours or so." Cue the sugary giggle. "So, since I'm a little bored and I'm sure you don't have anything better to do at this hour -" - other than sleep - "-I was kind of hoping that you and I could go to the park today."

"Today?"

"Yeah. Like, as in right now, today."

I sighed. Why the hell she decided to be all stoked up on sugar was beyond me. I really didn't want to go the park right now. I haven't been there for years, in fact. If I wanted to take a walk, a few laps around the neighborhood was fine with me. Why couldn't she do that? I mean, sure, it's not like camera people bug her about her new "public" life, but couldn't she want to go at, I don't know, at around three? In the afternoon? On a Sunday?

"M'kay, I'll meet you there in about twenty minutes," I mumbled. Damn, I wish I could say no. But then again, she might not leave me alone about it and would more than likely pout over the phone and make up an extensive list of reasons on why, specifically, I should be there, justifying her reasons. So, it was better to just go along and accept her conditions.

"Great!" she chirped. "I'll see you at the little playground with the swing set and sand box. I'll see you, there!" And with that, the line went dead.

I groaned and tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes. It was already December (I think, can't really remember) so I knew without a doubt that it was freezing. I stayed in bed for about another three or four minutes before deciding that I had better get going. I nearly leaped back under the covers when the cold air nipped at me. Why wasn't I allowed to sleep in on a glorious Sunday? I thought it was supposed to be known as the day of rest for some people. . .

"Guess not," I mumbled to myself and forced me feet to walk over to my dresser to pull out a pair of new socks and a shirt. After quickly slipping into those, I searched my closet for a jacket, sweat pants, a long sleeved shirt, and a scarf. While I was looking for them, my fingers brushed against something thick and soft. It was pushed all the way towards the back, long forgotten until now. I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled it out, surprised to find a brand-new scarf. And then I remembered.

During the first year of our separation, she never got me anything for Christmas. Well, not like I did either, but she must have been guilty about it because when the next Christmas came, she left a small blue box on my windowsill. At first, I wondered just how in the world she was able to climb up to my window (my room was on the second floor) before thinking that I probably shouldn't care. The first time she did it, I was tempted to throw the box out. I could tell it was from her from her handwriting. It was actually somewhat similar to Miku's, only smaller and looser. Somehow, if that made any sense to you. But I never did. Instead, I undid the white ribbon and lifted the lid to reveal the same blue scarf that I was holding right now. She must have overheard me saying one time how my old one was beginning to fray and fade in color. It looked a lot like my old one, but a lot longer. But I never used it.

I was about to toss it over my shoulder to forget about it, but something inside stopped me, so I just let it hang on my arm while I searched for the old one. When I finally found it, I couldn't help but try to compare the two together and, obviously, her old gift seemed like it'd be perfect right now. But Christmas wasn't until a couple more weeks. And then there was those other gifts that I never opened before, just sitting in my closet collecting dust. You know, I haven't opened them yet. At all. Even after keeping them for more than ten years. Just a mindless tidbit because you might've asked me what else she got me.

It was already past time for me to leave, so I just stuffed a piece of melon bread that was just lying on the kitchen table for my breakfast (I'm sure Miku had a plan on where to eat for later) and rushed out the door. The park wasn't that far so I could walk over there without having to ask Taito for permission to use his car. Like me, he's not a morning person. Though unlike me, I don't sleep with an ice pick under my pillow and then conveniently take it out and then threaten to gorge someone's eyes out if they don't let me get my five minutes. Yeah, you can already tell how much fun he is when you're the one who has to remind him that if he didn't get up, he'd be late for work. Can you blame me for being the way I am, too?

Anyway, I tried not to think about the person who gave me the scarf as I wrapped it around my neck. I caved in. _If Miku asks, I'll just tell her I bought it for myself_, I told myself, content with my excuse as I rounded a corner. I tried to not think about how familiar the benches, the trees, the shops and restaurants were while I passed them. I hadn't walked this path in ages, for reasons I'm sure you can guess.

Despite my best efforts, they managed to creep out and I felt as if though I was drowning in, surprising to me at the time, grief. Where did things go wrong? She was happy, why did I go and ruin it for her, for both us? I could see her and she could see me. We did talk, though not as frequent as I had wished. What is it about my brothers' that she liked that I couldn't provide?

A bell chimed in the distance, at an ice cream parlor that she and I frequently went to. I could usually convince her to get something there with me and I sighed remembering how silly we looked with the treats smeared on our faces. And just like that, I remembered something else Miki had told me during the first month of school, before this whole mess started.

"My father told me that there was some advanced field in science about the study of photons that he'd heard about on the radio on his way to work. It's called the science of 'entanglement', in which photons 'knew' about one another's movements." she wistfully explained, just having woken up from a nap and took her head off of my shoulder and rubbed her eyes. "Did you know that?"

I shook my head. "No. Kind of interesting, though. You're definitely like a sponge; you take in a lot of the stuff your parents tell you."

I said it somewhat sarcastically since most parents tried to look past Miki's attitude and were amazed by her memory and cognitive skills. She was almost he perfect child to some in academics, sports, and even in the arts when she actually felt like singing. I thought she would take it the wrong way, but I guess she was still sleepy because she let out a throaty laugh, a lot like her mom's, and stretched her arms out.

"It is. But it's even more when you think of it in terms of people."

I knew she was going to go Confucius on me, so I closed the book I was reading and looked at her. "Enlighten me."

"Well, I guess in a way, it could be used to describe lovers, if you think about it."

". . . I did say enlighten m— Ow!" Surprised that she flicked my forehead?

"Use your head, BaKaito. People aren't going to always do everything for you. But the bell is gonna ring for school to start, so I guess I might as well tell ya now. Although I find it to be a precocious kid thing to do unless you were Richard Burton and could get away with it, or try to use science or any other subject to use in their proposal of their 'undying' love to their object of affection. Some people try too hard to impress, is what I'm tying to lay down right now."

"Uh huh."

"In this case, with 'entanglement', it could lead into vague and abstract notions of love. Like, as an example let's just say you and me, if I were to confess that I had long felt 'entangled' with you, just admiring you from afar, and within the very cockles of my heart, there is a feeling that would never could never leave, meaning I would always feel like that for you and only you, and because of that I would never want to let you out of my sight," she finished with a coquettish tilt and laughed when I looked away. "Do you now get it?"

I kind of did, but I didn't want to hear her go on again so I nodded. "Y-yeah. . . But why didn't you use Akaito as an example? You two are 'dating', after all." She was making fun of, I could tell that she was.

She frowned a bit and shrugged. "The example seemed better when I put you into the equation. Plus, if anything, you have a more ideal personality that suits most people's tastes, whereas Akaito has some pretty. . . Well, you know how he is," she said with a small smile. "And you're my best friend, so it seemed natural for me to assume that maybe our photons are also best friends and seem to know what we're doing at that moment and worry about the other."

"You were napping on my shoulder."

"When we're apart!" she snapped.

"Okay then. But this is just a theory, isn't it? It can be proven incorrect at any given source of new information, so if I were you, I wouldn't go around and talk like that."

She lightly pulled on my cheek with a scowl on her face. "Sometimes you're more rational than me and it ticks me off," she admitted when she let go. At least she wasn't really pinching.

After she got up and dusted her pants off, she looked down at me with an almost sad look in her eyes. "But there's also times where I feel you're just so damn dense that you can't read in between the lines and the meaning just completely flies over your head."

I gasped when I felt my phone go off in my pocket. I was so absorbed in thinking about what she said, wondering what she meant by that, that I realized that I was already ten minutes late for the appointed time for my date with Miku.

_ive been w8ing 4 u 4 30 min already! dont tell me, youre right in front of the icecream store, right?_

I knew I needed to run, then. I looked back one last time, wondering if Miki's photons "knew" how I was spending my days without her. It wasn't until I saw Miku's smiling face at the swing set that I felt that same sharp pain in my chest. It was an undeniable fact, we were entangled, Miki and I, though the word now had a more ominous ring to it.

Maybe it was true, about that one philosopher had once said: Some people would never fall in love if they hadn't read about it in books. Maybe Miki and I had read too much. Or maybe it's probably because, in the grand scale of Life, we were each other's wrong turns in the Companion Department. Possibly. More than likely.

"Kai-Kai, over here!"

My head swerved around, trying to find the owner of the voice. When I finally spotted her cyan eyes and her long hair hidden under a small white cap, that the sinking feeling of realization sink in. Just to be sure that I wasn't overreacting, I turned around and stared at the crosswalk where I just came from. Well. . . I guess you can say that I was almost drowning in my sense of panic, because after seeing how fast those cars were coming, I started wondering if I walked when it was appropriate to, or I had narrowly escaped a very nasty scenario. If it had happened. Just how out of it was I?

Sensing my distress, Miku climbed up onto the slide and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey Kai-Kai! Did you buy me any ice cream, too?"

When I still didn't respond, she sighed, rolled her eyes, and got down from the slide. She marched her way in my direction until she was in front of me. "I swear, are you normally this sleepy? If I'd known that, I wouldn't have called. Or better yet, why didn't you tell me?" she demanded.

All I did was stare blankly at her while she waved a hand in my face, repeating my name. It wasn't until I felt something soft press against my mouth that I nearly yelped in surprise. I almost didn't know what happened until I saw her cover her mouth, her cheeks flushed red, and I nearly died there on the spot.

"Well, it's about time you did something else other than look like some kind of zombie," she said after removing her hand from her mouth. She laughed. "I guess it was sort of a 'Take That' so then you'd wake up. Now come on, I haven't been to a park on my own with a friend in _ages_." She said and grabbed my hand to pull me over to the swings. Still being a little disoriented, she shoved me onto the seat and then went behind me. After feeling her feet plant themselves on the seat, the swing began to move slowly. It wasn't until I looked up and saw that she was using her arms to try and swing the two of us. And the fact that she was wearing thigh-high socks and a skirt finally snapped me out of my stupor and I practically flew off of the swings. And my face left a nice imprint on the snow.

She winced. "Oooh, that looked like it hurt." Oh did it really? "Well, you're not bleeding or anything, so I guess you're fine!"

Pffft, if only that's all it took. One glance and you can tell that that person's all right. But they might be physically. How could she tell what's been plaguing my mind, my heart burdened with guilt, even now? "Your turn to sit," I tell her and she just looks at me curiously for one moment before complying. We stayed like that for a while, not talking, just listening to the wind rattle the thin branches, the snow softly hitting the ground, the scraping noise that Miku's shoes made. The silence was suffocating, I had to break it somehow. "Did you know that there's an advanced field in science about the study of photons? They call it the science of 'entanglement', in which photons 'know' about one another's movements."

"Really?"

I nodded.

"Where'd you learn that?"

A slight pause, trying to come up with something but failing. "Len told me that," I lied. I couldn't tell her for some reason. I felt something in me hold back, like it would have been a bad idea if I told her the truth. Luckily, she bought.

"Cool!" she chirped. "You've got some pretty smart friends. And I guess we're 'entangled'," she told me with an impish smile.

My brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"

She laughed. "Because I apparently knew where your photons were at. I'm sure you were around the ice cream shop on your way here and probably couldn't help yourself and gotten something, am I right?"

Well, actually no, that wasn't the reason why I was late. I was actually thinking about my old friend and that's what led me to tell you that story, but since you hate her guts, I won't tell you a thing. So instead I laughed. "You know me so well."

"And apparently so do my photons~!" she added and swung her feet in-time with my pushes. She started laughing again, probably thinking how stupid I was for bringing something like that up, and I laughed with her, too.

However, underneath the light-hearted nature of the discussion, I couldn't help but fall back onto that. Did Miki's photons "know" where I spent the better part of my days doing? At that, I couldn't help but remind myself that yes, we too are entangled, wrong turns in the Companion Department after all—maybe I was hers, maybe I would die before I ever find out. But I guess, it doesn't matter. It was only the story, the snail's trail that life left behind, the cover of a feminist magazine, the beautiful corpse in Paris's Alma Tunnel that hosted a troubled Princess that anyone cared about. It was clear in that moment, the chill of Sapporo frosting my breath for what seemed like an eternity: What happens doesn't really matter, only the story.

My face felt numb, either from the cold or from smiling too much, but it my cheeks and ears became flushed with heat at the sight of scarlet red hair. It was her. She was here. So her photons did know. Even though her back was turned, I was sure it was her, no I _knew_ that it was her. I would have let go of the chains, I would have walked over there and drop this grudge between us. Miku could learn to share, they both could.

But I didn't. I couldn't. Her shoulders were sagging, her face was hidden behind her scarf. I knew what that meant. It was a rare thing she did, but I recognized it. Accelerated heart rate, chest pain, stomach pain, strange abdominal shifts—I could feel every little symptom that presages guilt.

I made her cry. How long was she there, to hear my lie, to hear us laugh, to see us touch, kiss? I wanted to escape, run and tell her that she was getting the wrong idea. But how? Why? It was over, why couldn't I just get that through my head? She's not supposed to mean anything to me anymore, I don't mean anything to her anymore. So why do I keep dreaming, wishing, _wanting_ her to come back to me? I wish I was paying more attention to her and not drowning in my thoughts because I would have seen and prevented that. I could have ran, grabbed her arm, fight for a bit, and then walk her home, apologize, make things right again. But I didn't.

She gasped, she fell back, someone cried out her name, and then he touched her. He could have reached for her hand, grabbed her shoulders, or anything else, anything! Instead, he had to dip and wrap his arms around her waist and hold her close. She was confused for a moment even after he put her down, but they weren't that far off, I could hear him talking. I almost didn't catch it, but once I did, I held fast to every word he said. Apparently, so did she because a look of relief was on her face and she smiled.

Miku and I were quiet. We strained our ears to listen as we watched them walk away, shocked by the scene. Miki isn't the sort of person to just randomly walk away and be friendly with a stranger. I didn't understand. Why did she even let him touch her like that? She would have knocked him off of his feet. Why, why, why?

"Kaito?"

Miki was my best friend. And I knew how my brother felt about her. I just chose not to acknowledge it.

"Kaito, where are you going?"

But I saw it coming. Everybody did. Even though I knew that, I didn't immediately back off like I'm sure you think I did. I did fight for her, you know, even if it was a losing battle. I tried to have her look at me, because I knew everything about her. She may not have known it, may still not know it, but I do. Akaito could never understand her. He couldn't find out how to help her. He wouldn't let me try. But he couldn't keep his control over her any longer.

"Kaito!"

My relationship with her and my brother wasn't the only difference. I also never stopped fighting. I think that's what it is. Now, I question whether or not that's a good idea though. If anything it opens you up for some really depressing moments. I'm pretty sure you can tell now. Chasing a girl only to realize your brother is always ahead of you does a number on your self-esteem. I may have denied it to myself as a kid, but I knew it, I couldn't get rid of those feelings. I was confused and I realized what they meant far too late.

"Kaito, answer me!"

"I'm going back home to sleep."

She's not stupid. I knew that. But she still let me go.

I heard her sigh. ". . . Tomorrow then? Will you walk with me tomorrow?"

I didn't say anything, just nodded my head. She got it, though.

My brother was out since the second year, but then someone new came in. It wasn't fair. I hated being afraid, I took too long. How could I fix this? What do I need to do? Why was she so willing to trust a stranger? Sometimes the only way to settle your feelings is to put them in the open. Too bad I also have horrible timing when it comes to that.

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><p>AN:

I have a poll up on my Profile page asking which of my Multi-chapter fics any of my readers are mainly interested in seeing being updated regularly. And gah, who gets colds in the spring? OTL And ugh, I hate text speak. . .

Word Count- 4,283. Total Editing Time- 40 minutes and 58.23 seconds.


	24. A New Start

A/N: The poll sure is starting to stack up quite a bit. ouo" And after just re-reading the last chapter of this Fic. . . It's so off and repetitive, I don't think it's a good idea to shave off that much time. |D M'kay, back to an hour and ten minutes it - Naw, just an hour. And I'm going to go on a long hiatus. Too many things going on right now so I won't be updating and reviewing.

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><p>I'm going to come out and quote one of my favorite Western authors— Maya Angelou, by the way— simply because her it adequately describes my situation: "Life's a bitch". You'll know what I mean in due time, I promise.<p>

I didn't wake up that morning in December thinking that anything new, odd, or down right insulting would take place, but hey, if I did, then I would've copied all of Nigaito's tricks on test days and would have gladly stayed at home feeling "sick". Or I could've slipped from the stairs and end up having a sprained ankle, but Taito had to play the hero and yanked on my scarf to haul me back up, effectively choking me in the process. And he had the nerve to claim that_ I'm_ a masochist. Besides, that was by accident, though after experiencing that "delightful" day at school, I wished that I had elbowed him in the gut.

Now, imagine how I felt after having to suffer all of that when I walked into my English that day and noticed that Miki actually had her hair pulled up. I'm sure that this doesn't sound like a big deal to you, but for some reason she has this apparent, well. . . hatred, for lack of a better word, for having her hair out of her face every time her mom wanted her to do something nice with it. She actually seemed a little afraid of her reflection, her eyes wide and wild and she'd immediately rip the hair tie out.

But that wasn't the real surprise. That one had to be when I saw the same blond British guy walk into English and watch him strut over to Miki's side before taking the seat the behind her and began to talk and play around with her hair. As far as I'm concerned, only Piko—and Akaito on some rare moments—was allowed to do that. Apparently being British grants you special privileges.

Once our sensei noticed that she had a new student, she looked just as surprised as the rest of us on how cordial the two were acting towards each other. She went up to talk to him, had him introduce himself, and then went on with her day. Even if I was paying attention in class, I really don't think I could've even remembered more than seventy percent of what our teacher was talking about—Luka was a pretty good English teacher—since I was so heavily focused on a certain pair. They way they passed notes, giggled, and looked so much at ease with each other would have pegged them as childhood friends by some random stranger. Even though they've met just the other day. You can imagine just how much more incompetent that made me feel. I started wishing that Miku and I shared that class.

If there was any indication that they would have gotten closer to one another, I hadn't expected it until after class. I had planned to try again and make an attempt to talk to her because I, for one, didn't like that guy. Not one bit. I didn't know why, but I felt like I really couldn't trust him and by the looks of it, Piko and I were on the same boat. And don't start talking like my sister Kaiko and tell me that I was being jealous, paranoid, or something like that. It's nothing like that, I promise. . . _You're easy to read, too, you know_. . . Hm? Oh, I didn't really say anything. What? . . . I'm serious, I didn't! Not to be rude or anything, but I'm going to ignore you right now and continue with my story. So thanks for being understanding.

After having to endure another hour of Cul talking on and on about proper syntaxes (I think that's what she was talking about), she finally dismissed class. I tried not to look suspicious, eager actually, when I got up from my seat and started following Miki. It would have been fine, no trouble at all, if the guy hadn't tagged along with her. Sometimes Len and I debate if she had actually seen me and did that at the last minute to distract me, or if she had planned it all along and did it to make me flustered, but holding his hand while trying to be secretive had done it. My resolve was mercilessly crushed and I walked ahead of them, but I wasn't fast enough when I noticed the faint smirk on her face. It must have been intentional; it had to be.

I don't really know what went on in my mind after that, but soon enough I found myself ten blocks away from home. School wasn't going to be over for another three hours, at least, and if somebody (namely a nosy neighbor) saw me, that could spell out some serious trouble for me later on, but at the time I didn't give a damn. It didn't matter how many deep breaths and self-coaching I was doing the whole time I was walking, it wasn't going to make the truth any less painful than what it already was. There was something about the way she took control by reaching and holding his hand, something so. . .possessive. Whether or not she had truly meant to do that to piss me off, she was doing one helluva fine job.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

I was so wrapped up in my head with all of my troubles that I had failed to notice that I wasn't alone. Taking in a sharp breath and quickly spinning on a heel, I was suddenly face to face with a familiar face.

"Dell!" I gasped. "You're home."

He smirked. "Shouldn't you still be in school?"

When I didn't answer, he motioned for me to follow him. Against my better judgement, I did what he wanted and followed him out into an alley between two buildings. He stomped on a stoop to get my attention and have me sit down on it, which I did. Dell lit a cigarette, an unfiltered Hope.

"They still make those?" I asked. He nodded and offered me one. I shook my head.

"You really should take up smoking, it's your best friend during times like these," he advised.

"Thanks, but no."

"To answer your earlier question that I bet you were thinking, I just wanted to stop by and see my folks and Miki, but I won't be allowed to now thanks to you."

"Why me?"

" 'Cause now I smell like smoke and because you look like someone's drained the life out of you. I can't ignore that."

I sighed and ran a tired hand through my hair. "Is it that obvious?"

"She sent me his pic. Good lookin' and ol' fashioned and a 'traditional' Brit, minus the bad teeth. The way she talks about him makes him sound like a fuckin' saint. And she's only known him for a day, right?"

It was starting to become too much. How did people do this? It seemed impossible. Just a few moments ago, I was going to make everything right again. Now there was this undoubtedly attractive Englishman cheerfully dismantling my last line on hope. Dell offered the pack, a petty pleasure registering in his eyes: _Life is shit and people are worse. Told you._

There had been a willful avoidance of the subject that is typically known as "other people", which invariably meant that whoever made the first move determined the nature and course of the separation. I had somehow let my mother's belief that Miki was a horrible influence cloud my opinions of her and took in the sort of woman my mother approved of: sweet, fragile, gentle and beautiful. Polar opposites.

"I thought you smoked only menthol," I finally managed to say.

"Just when I have a cold," Dell said, a smirk behind a cloud of smoke.

"Dell, could you at least pretend you're not enjoying this?"

"What? I told you - move on. You fucked up big time, for one. Quit bitchin' about somethin' you're not making an effort to change. And don't give me all of that bull with the whole 'I am trying!' 'cause I can tell that you're not. She's finally found someone who makes her smile. Isn't that what Miku does to you?" He took my silence as his chance to continue. "Hey, I'm only saying this _as a friend_."

He said this last bit with such manufactured concern that I felt limp with disgust. Dell was so much less offensive in his natural, cynical mode.

This was another unreported side effect of a broken heart, I'll admit: the endless unsolicited advice. Married people, single people, the drunk, the broken, the confused and bitter all now got a say. Friends who once stared vacantly at the bottom of a glass saying things like, "I look at him and just want to beat him with a brick - is that weird?" now got to give you a nugget from their own personal brain box. Hurray.

"I have to get back to class," I told him as I got up and tried to sprint away from him on shaky legs.

"Hey!" he shouted after me.

Internally, I groaned, not believing myself that I had actually slowed down to a stop to hear him out. Hadn't he "helped" out enough?

"Don't tell Miki you saw and talked to me."

"Why not?"

" 'Cause she'll beat both of our asses later. You for talkin' to me and me for not tellin' her that I came by."

I laughed dryly. "Don't worry, we're still on a no-speaking terms."

This time I heard him sigh. "Kaito, I'm being serious. You're not doing any favors for yourself by letting your guilt eat you up like this. It's not healthy and I meant it when I said move on. She's finally happy again and you want to drag her back down to your level? I can't say for sure if she still cares about you, but if you do for her, then just stop. You're holding her, yourself, and even Miku back. It's your Senior year. Don't do anything else that you'll regret later on. Enjoy it."

As much as it had pained me to admit, he was right. I have to let her go. It's blatantly obvious she already had. That day at the park, I wasn't being fair to Miku. Already the guy was bringing back the color to Miki's cheeks again. He was doing things to her that I could do. At that moment, I instantly think back to the moments when I had believed Miki unconsciously selected her friends based on how similar they looked like compared to her deceased brother. Was there something about him that reminded her of Mikio?

"Kaito? You should get going. And focus, you look like you're zoning in and out. I don't want you to get hurt just 'cause your head isn't screwed on straight."

"Huh? Oh, right. Thanks."

He didn't make a move to leave, so I assumed that he was going to wait until I walked off first, so I did, and I didn't turn back. After make the last turn, I was facing the school. Nothing seems to last long when you're heavily thinking about something. The wind picked up and I fixed my scarf to cover my nose before shoving my hands inside of my pockets. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was being an ass for thinking that Dell hadn't really changed. In his own way, he was trying to help, and he did seem to care how I was doing. Did he even know how I felt about him for the longest time? Had she told him over the phone, when he wasn't busy with school? Pretty sure. More than likely.

I didn't know how much longer I had stayed out, but soon enough, students and members of the faculty poured out through the doors and I rubbed my face to keep the blood circulating. I'm so going to get it later, but school didn't seem to matter anymore. I quickly pressed my forefinger and thumb forcefully into the corners of my eyes, preventing tears. Rushing to prevent any spontaneous crying jags had become a familiar routine these last few years, and I'd become very good at it, unfortunately. I could probably teach a class in it.

"Kaito?"

I jumped and spun around. I recognized the pink beanie with the pink pom-pom on top and the white cashmere coat. "Miku?"

She smiled. "Where've you been? I didn't see you in class today."

"I. . ." She looked at me suspiciously. Dammit, I hesitated too long. "I went out for a walk. Lost track of time, y'know?"

She knowingly nodded her head. "Can I guess why?" Again, I hadn't said anything and she sprinted onwards before facing me. "It was her again, wasn't it?"

"Her?"

She angrily shook her head at my confusion. "You know who I'm talking about. Everyone saw. Rin told me what happened. She saw it. Why do you even bother, I thought she wasn't your friend anymore?" she asked me, her normally sweet voice laced with hatred and. . . jealousy?

"Of course not," I found myself telling her. "We're not, not ever." Stop talking!

For now, it seemed like it was enough because she calmed down and breathed a sigh of relief. "Good," she whispered. "I want it to stay like that."

"Why?" It slipped out before I could stop myself.

She looked at me quizzically. "Why? So that she'd never have the chance to hurt you again." The way she said it made me feel as if though it was the most obvious reason and that I was an idiot for not seeing it.

And for some reason, I felt so relieved to know that she wasn't angry with me for ditching her like that the other day. "Thank you."

"Eh?" She paused, her face turning a dark shade of pink. "F-for what?"

I shrugged and smiled. "Everything, I guess."

"Oh, stop," she pleaded, but the gratitude imbued in my voice caused her to smile as well, the tiniest amount of heat lighting up her frigid cheeks again.

After a few moments of silence, I drew in a deep breath, bracing myself for what I was about to do. "Miku?" I asked her, gaining her attention.

"Yes?" She inquisitively answered, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Tomorrow's Sunday."

"Mhm."

"Mind if we do a little shopping tomorrow? I know of a nice little cafe that we could head off to once we're finished."

It was about time I learn how to breathe and walk on two legs again. Her grin grew wider and she tried to hide it behind her scarf.

"Of course."

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><p>AN:

Word Count- 2,727. Total Editing Time- 58 minutes and 3 seconds.

Cuttin' it close. XD And for those of you who're MiKai fans, no worries, I'll try to add some more fluff between these two. Don't tell my sister about it, though, or she'll think I've gone to the "dark" side. XD


	25. Regret

A/N:

I've finally found the time to work on this again.

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><p>Me and my big mouth.<p>

I should have known better than to make her such a promise, but I felt so bad and I was trying to improve my mood and I figured, Well, I needed a new life, so that automatically meant that I should take my glamorous friend out shopping to start anew. That whole philosophical, karmic kind of crap that psychologists and Buddhists seem to throw out all the time. What could go wrong? Other than being a pack mule, apparently. Or maybe being the chauffeur?

"Eeee~! Oh mai gai! KAITO! You absolutely MUST try this on!"

Or being her own freakin' mannequin. I blame the fact that she's a well-known idol and that her voice can go up that many octaves.

"Blue is _so_ your color!"

Really? It couldn't be because I have _blue _hair, _blue _eyes, and that my outfit just so happens to have a lot of _blue _overtones to it, right? And that, in general, I'm just _blue_. It's just me, right? Well, it's not like I could ever be that sarcastic with Miku, but you get the point. At least she was enjoying herself while I had to stand there like a pushover — just that one time! —, letting her drape a dark blue pashmina around my neck. Hey, I wasn't going to be the one to spoil her fun. Someone else will, but I bet you already know the answer to that, don't you? Of course you do, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

She went a few steps back, placed a hand on her hip and studied my new look. I must have looked _très chic_, no? Yeah, yeah, laugh it off. I figured that with all of my melodramatic soliloquies, you might have needed something lighter or something. I'm not really a depressed kind of person, you know. And don't try to tell that people who wear and love the color blue are depressed people in disguise. If that's the case, then every newborn baby boy in the world that has been wrapped in a blue blanket are predetermined to be such. Aren't there women and girls who are? So there. . . And I'm getting off topic again I know, I know, I know. I'm sorry.

"How does this look?"

I twisted my neck (carrying bags is a hassle) so that I could try and take a quick peek at her. She was wearing . . . . something cute, I guess? . . . What? . . . WHAT? You're asking me to remember something that happened almost ten years ago, give me a break! Ahem, anyway. . . I think I'll just spare you the details of that event and move along now and before you ask, it's not because my memory has failed me or anything and that I can't think of an interesting monologue to keep you— . . . I can't remember, what do you want from me!?

. . . I'm sorry, I just haven't been. . . sleeping. . . very well. . . for a while. . . Um, okay, so like, where was I? Oh, right, the shopping venture thing. Right.

Well then, as I was saying, Miku made a fine trip out of that day, nothing but smiles and peals of laughter from her. And what about me, you ask? Didn't my ever so clear and flowery description help mold some kind of idea into your head? And I'm not saying it to be disrespectful to you or anything — you are supposedly here to help us — but I could have sworn I had made myself crystal clear. And I am not being snappy and rude! . . . Fine. I'm sorry. Happy? You should be. Moving on.

I know that I've already spent about ten minutes complaining about her using me to hold onto her things, but when she suddenly decided that she was hungry, she took a few of them out of my hands long enough for me to flex my fingers to get the blood flowing back into them. Turned out that she only wanted to fish out one of her wallets (one of them!) so that she could pay for our meal.

"What're you in the mood for, Kai-Kai?" she had asked after handing me my job back.

"Something cold and sweet." To counteract my hot and bitter mood.

She laughed. "Doesn't matter the season, I guess. Though I don't really know that many places around here that'd still be serving ice cream now."

"I know a few," I offered. "There's actually one that's not too far off from us. It's just a few blocks away, and it's not fancy or anything, but it's nice." Considering the ridiculous amount of money Miku had sometimes invested in me over the years at fancy restaurants and the many times she'd treat me to Mousey Land, it made me feel guilty every time I'd see or hear about the amount. And it was only because she would be the one to keep adding, and adding, and adding, and adding, and add— You get the idea.

She seemed against the idea, at first, until I smiled and reassured her that I was absolutely positive that she'd love it. I did. I spent a good afternoon there with my siblings and Miki when our mom wasn't feel well. Definitely watered down the tension between us on those days.

Anyways, on that day and at that time, we just had to get caught up in all of the Christmas fuss. Normally, that holiday isn't that much of a big deal over here, but I guess with most of the citizens wanting to "Westernize" their lifestyles, I guess accepting Christmas into their regime would count. Even now I wonder if they realized that it was a pretty religious date, and not some day used as an excuse to randomly gift people and to use as an excuse to get close to their loved ones. Well, not really an excuse, I guess, but you know what I'm trying to say, right? Well, the cafe was no different than the streets. It was a little mind jarring at first, because of how packed the small place was and, for once, Miku looked unsure and worried again.

"Kaito?" She said, tugging on my sleeve. "Maybe we should—"

"Well howdy do!" A waiter exclaimed with a thick accent. Osakan? "What can ah do for such a LOVELY couple~?" he asked in a lilting tone. Honestly, what kind of a question was that? Surely we came in just to stand and admire the white trim on the walls.

I felt Mi-Mi stand up straighter and saw her give him her best smile. "A table for two, please, if possible."

He looked at her, and I mean REALLY looked at her, and his eyes nearly bugged out. "Why, certainly! Anythin' for the _lovely_, Miku. Follow me!" he all but sang, walking in front of us with a skip in his step.

Miku, as usual, was courteous and already knew what she wanted once he had us seated at a booth with a window. Scenery. And to my luck, or lack thereof, they weren't serving cold ice cream anymore, just chilled mochi. Delish.

While I was busy moping and poking at it with the ends of my chopsticks, Miku, who sat in front of me, leaned forward and whispered, "Maybe we should reserve this table. . ."

The way she looked at me gave me the impression that she was kind of uncomfortable asking for such a thing, and I couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

She sucked in some air and puffed her cheeks, a habit she did often whenever Rin's constant chattering was finally beginning to eat away at her nerves. "_Because_," she stressed, "I'd much rather have it just be you and me, than to share it with some stranger." She shifted a bit in her seat. "I mean, we were lucky that there was a booth left for us, but look around you." Stupidly, I did what she asked. My reward for my obedience was an exasperated sigh. "Rhetorically, Kaito!" she snapped and wildly gestured with her hands. "I can promise you the next person who comes here is just going to ruin our time together because they'll more than likely be wanting to ask a bunch of silly questions and make off-handed remarks and— You see?!" she cried out and grabbed my jaw a little too hard just so she could force me to turn around and stare at the booth adjacent to us. The same waiter had helped another young couple find a seat, but apparently he was making them share with an already occupied one, and the couple didn't appear too happy about that.

"I think I get what you're saying," I finally told her and she groaned. Well what? I honestly didn't really see a problem with that, so there really shouldn't be a reason for her to act like that. Well, at least in my opinion, but I guess I should also be considerate of her feelings since she's had to deal with social stress (if that's a good way to describe it) in her short life, but even though she's been to the school for almost four years, people have surprisingly adjusted to having her around fairly quickly. Or as quickly as any other person would be within the proximity of a celebrity, that is.

However, those thirty or so minutes spent alone just chatting about our plans for when school finally lets out for good, what we planned to do, how our folks were doing. . . and then it gradually slipped to the more person questions and even if either of us planned on settling down. At that notion, Miku blushed and hid her face as best as she could with her hat.

"I-I actually have mixed feelings about that. . ." She murmured, fiddling around with the ends of her hair.

"How so?" I asked, trying so very hard to keep my thoughts trained to our conversation on not on the fact that I wanted to run my hands through her hair and I bit the inside of my cheek too hard to stop myself from teasing her. Honestly, she looked so adorable whenever she played with her hair like that, and not abuse it with a nasty habit like actually chewing on it a— I digress, in short, just a bunch of self control and it was just really, really hard to impose all of that. And don't give me that look, okay? I just got a little side-tracked is all. I mean, come on, I'm sure you've had moments that once you remember something, you draw a connection to that with a past event or really just anything else that could remotely remind you of said event. It's only natural, of course. And I'm not making up any excuses, I swear.

Anyways, I guess I was just too absorbed in banishing such feelings and trying so hard to remind me of my place, that I failed to notice when she had stiffened up, her eyes growing wide with shock before narrowing in such disdain and _hatred_, that when I finally decided to follow her gaze, I felt something fall into the pit of my stomach, and I can assure you it was NOT because that mochi wasn't agreeing with me.

Gold and red.

. . . Fuck me, I need to think. . .

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><p>Snack time's always the best time to try and relax and collect your thoughts as best as you can so that you won't sound as stupid whenever you're trying to answer questions that sometimes don't even SEEM to have anything to do with the client, isn't that right? Now, I don't mean to sound sardonic or anything or even disrespectful, however. . . I do have to wonder about you sometimes. Sorry, I think her paranoia really has rubbed off of me after all these years, as much as I don't like to admit that.<p>

Anyways, I think I've collected my thoughts and I'm ready to go on again. Can you tell me where we last left off? . . . Are you sure? Well, hey, it's all on you, I guess. . . Okay, if you say so.

So, once I noticed who it was that Fate believed was deemed fit to grace our boring lunch with, I wanted to duck under the table and put up an "Out to Lunch" sign so that they'd get the picture. Not like it would actually help, but y'know, the thought was in there. . . Yeah.

Okay, well, yeah, the same overly-happy Osakan waiter brought them over, and I could have sworn some kind of atomic bomb or something just went off the second Miki's and Miku's eyes met. Not a spark, but a catastrophic explosion in the shape of a giant mushroom that blew us all to dust kind of way. Is it really possible for two people to hate each other so much when they rarely even spoke to each other? It still doesn't make much sense to me, but there they were, glaring the shit out of each other, even when Blondie and I tried to coax them to just eat or something.

Thankfully, World War Three didn't break out at that moment, and we all just sat there, in silence, in really awkward silence. Miki decided to settle on some noodles that she didn't even bother tasting and stared them down. I already knew she wasn't much of an eater, but she could have at least sampled it. It was insanely rude of her. . . Just knowing that she was there was distracting me, and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my thoughts to myself for long while she was around, so my safest bet was to just stare out of the window and do my best to ignore her. Consequently, that meant I had to ignore Miku, because she was at my right and Miki just HAD to sit in front of her. I knew I'd be able to see her crazy red hair from the corner of my eyes. Whether she or not she was trying, Miki always seemed to make my life more difficult than necessary, and she always seemed to know exactly how to ruin it, too.

Though while I was trying to do the smart thing and to just try and enjoy my soggy treat, Miku was busy glowering at her, seemingly unaware by the fact that even Miki was trying to do the same. But one person could only take so much and Miki sighed, lazily looking up from her bowl and looked at Miku with mild disinterest. "Can I help you?"

"You certainly can by getting your ass out of that seat and go back through those doors!" Miku hissed. It didn't come as much of a shock to me that she'd swear right off the bat. It was expected of her, with what her mortal enemy being in the same proximity as her and all that jazz.

Miki rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Sorry Hime, no can do. Leon and I already had to wait for a long time and this was the only one with just enough extra seats to accommodate us."

Miku kicked me from under the table and grabbed my hand, digging her nails into my skin. Ouch. "I _told_ you we should've had this table reserved!" she snarled, and I wanted to sink right into my seat right then and there to hide. Instead, I just nodded my head, thinking 'Yes, yes you did and I'm sorry for being such an inconsiderate asshole and having to make you suffer through Miki's company', and I looked straight down at my plate. Anything than to have to see those hard eyes of hers.

My saving grace, Miki's yawn, and Miku finally released my hand. She was already as angry as a raging bull, and I felt that if I tried to nurse my wounded hand, she'd snap at me, and just let my hand rest on my thigh. With a lazy grin, Miki pointed to Miku's tiny green tea cake with her chopsticks. "Is that any good?" she asked while barely — just barely — moving the chopsticks up and down, indicating that she wasn't just talking about the cake, but about Miku as well. Miki discreetly shifted her eyes towards Leon's and even glanced in my direction, smirking. So she was still up to her old tricks. She hadn't changed one bit in the last three years, and for some reason, I felt a little relieved. I may not have missed as much as I thought and I relaxed, smiling at her, and her small joke — as rude as it was — took light and I almost laughed.

Wrong move. Miku's face turned a stark red, and her body began to tremble in fury. She breathed in slowly and deliberately several times, trying to calm herself down but it was obvious that it wasn't working. "Y-you, you, you, you—" She stammered.

"Me what~?" Miki replied teasingly, egging her on.

Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO. I shook my head at her, getting ready to get up to stuff a mouthful of the mochi into her mouth to shut her up. She was going too far, way too far way too fast and her cocky attitude was going to get her into some serious shit in a few seconds. But of course, Miki just wouldn't be Miki if she actually listened to anyone in her life.

She leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms. "Honestly, you would at least expect that Japan's most beloved Diva would at least be a bit more sensible."

Miku stopped fuming for a second and stared at her, perplexed, and looked up at me with a face that said, 'Okay, what the hell is she going on about this time?'

She went on. "I mean, really? Do you take us for fools?"

Miku's patience was gone, and she glared at her again. "What're you talking about? Are you mental?" And just when Miki was about to open her mouth to answer, a malicious smirk stretched across Miku's small face. Slowly, Miki closed her mouth and moved forward, her eyebrows knitted together. That was bad, that was so bad, because she shouldn't have stopped. It was like those days when we were younger. That's how she'd always win when she would verbally abuse me, because I'd become curious, blatantly leaving an opening just so she could tear me apart. Any normal person would have rejoiced to see their bully being knocked down a few pegs, but not like that, not in that manner.

"Kaito told me about your little visit to the _therapist_, like what, two, three years ago? Just what was that all about~?" Miku purred.

Miki's whole body went as tense as a rubber band, eyes wide, and her mouth set in a firm line. Once or twice I had mentioned it, but it was only because Miku wanted to get the whole story that time when Miki went missing from school. Rumors were rumors and she wanted to know the facts. So Miki's parents had had enough of having to deal with the way their lives were becoming, failing to have the family they wanted, giving up so much for such poor results. They weren't awful people, oh no, that's not what I'm trying to say. No matter how good a person's intention are, you can only take so much that you just forget. They forgot about her and she was hurt. What other way could we say to explain why Miki was acting up again?

I was so sure she was going to snap, lunge at her just to bury her fingers into her smooth skin again, but she didn't. She was trying so hard to keep her cool. "That's none of your concern, so I suggest you don't try to worm your way into other people's business where you're not wanted." she firmly told Miku.

Miku ignored the warning tone in her voice and started to play around with a loose strand of her hair. "Oh really? Well, since your family is friends with his—"

"Not for the past four years last time I checked." she growled.

Thanks for letting me know you actually miss me, you jerk. Presents can't fix everything.

Miku smirked and went on. "—that I only assumed that Kaito has every right to worry about his sick little friend."

**_"I am not sick!"_** She screamed, her self-control shattered and banged her fists onto the table, causing the bowls and glasses to jump and shake. She was going to have another fit, just like the one in the tree house, and I almost got up, but Leon beat me to her. He even placed a hand over hers. All eyes were on our table.

Miku giggled, light and airy, starkly contrasting the situation on hand. "Miki-chan, you need to calm that huge ego of yours down. Do you have to act like such an attention-seeking little brat? Aren't we enough?" she pouted and lightly batted her eyelashes.

I could have sworn that Miki sat up to wail on her, but instead collected her coat and Leon's, grabbed his hand, and got up from the table. "Come on, we're leaving," she snapped at him. He didn't protest.

Miku sneered. "Leaving so soon? Late for an appointment with your therapist? Late for your last meal at St. Michael's?"

Next thing we all knew, a sharp slap resounded, and the shape of tiny red hand was clearly visible on Miku's cheek, who was too stunned to react.

"Next time," Miki started, her voice thin and tired, "pick on someone you're own size. I'm not going to let you insult me like that. I am not crazy, it was personal family matters. So unless you want me to go on and let your other cheek have a matching accessory, I suggest you learn your place." She warned and angrily stalked out of the cafe.

Miku and I sat there in silence, the sounds of the cafe slowly coming back to life, and she gingerly fingered the swelling area on her face. "Let's go," she whispered. Even she sounded drained and I didn't argue. I left a tip and paid the tab, and scurried after her. She was walking ahead of me far too quickly, the heels of her boots loudly slapping against the wet pavement. "Go home, Kaito." She ordered.

"Huh? Why? You're hurt!" Even if her temper had miraculously cooled down, there was always that slight chance that she could explode and make a costly mistake. Yes, her pride was also wounded, but I was sure she could salvage that. Miki was just that crazy girl who lived down the street from her boyfriend's. We weren't even friends anymore, she wasn't a threat to her. So why did she care so much?

"Kaito, don't argue with me. I just want to lay down. . ." I almost didn't hear her. She was talking so quietly now. That whole fiasco was my fault because I hadn't asked to keep our booth to ourselves. It was all my fault. The least I could was to respect her wishes, and Kaiko's cheery face was the first thing I saw when I opened the door.

"Big brother!" she cried, flinging her arms around me. "How was your date with Mi-Mi?" she innocently asked. She adored Miku. She was like the older sister she always wanted.

"It was nice."

She wasn't fooled. "Big brother, what's wrong? Did you two have a fight? Don't worry, I thought that pink looked better on her than red did, too." She told me, patting my hand. "Oh? Kaito-nii, what happened to your hand?"

"I slipped and fell on something. It's late and we have a big day tomorrow, I need sleep." I told her and picked her up to move her aside. She didn't make a move to protest, understanding when it was best to stay quiet and do as she's told.

Well, time's up, again. I'll be seeing you.


End file.
